HEBRON, Md.- The telephone pole outside of your house and that phone line running into your house, is so last year. What people call landlines, may soon be a thing of the past.
So, what's next?
Even if you do not want a cellphone you might just need one.
Some states have already passed or are considering laws allowing phone companies to quit providing home service.
"If it ain't broken don't fix it," said Nikki Hayhurst who takes care of her live-in mother, Wanda Mangold in their Hebron home.
However, that is not how some states are thinking. A recent USA TODAY article reported that Wisconsin and Indiana are the most recent states allowing some phone companies to get rid of landline service.
If a similar law ever passes in Maryland, that could mean trouble for 89-year-old Mangold.
"Don't try to take it away from me", said Mangold. "I don't know how to operate a cellphone or anything that is different from what I am used to."
Mangold said she is used to her landline being her lifeline.
"For my prescriptions, my security to someone who takes care of me and my daughter is my caregiver," she said.
Mangold said Hayhurst is the one person she depends on, most of the time through using her home phone.
"We have senior citizens in our community, and around the United States that are definitely relying on the phone companies and not the cellphone companies because they are not going to change."
Mangold said there is no need for a change but if that ever happens, she will be sure to contact the people causing the inconvenience."
"I'll be willing to get in my little wheelchair and go find them and tell them how I think," she said.
There is no word yet on whether any Delmarva phone companies are considering dropping landlines.
(Photo: WBOC)
