"That person on wellfare/whatever can't REALLY be poor -- they have a cell phone!"

[xiphias]

You ever hear people say that?

Cheapest landline I can find around here: $45/month, with long-term contract. Most are closer to $60.
Cell phone data plan with unlimited text and talk, worldwide, and 500 mb of web: $50/month, no contract.

We SHOULD be saying, "That person can't REALLY be poor -- they can afford to not have a cell phone!"

The whole "cell phones are for rich people" stopped being true in the 20th century.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

In many parts of the world (like, for example, Guatemala) it's very common for cell phones to be ubiquitous and cheap. Even people with dirt floors, no indoor plumbing or electricity have them.

And, as you say, cell phones are cheap.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

Third World COUNTRIES that didn't have landlines yet, went straight to cell phones. Cheaper to rent space on a satellite (or even to put up a tower) than to run all those wires.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yep. I've heard of cases where people are out in African villages in the middle of nowhere, and they want to buy something, so the person pulls out their phone and uses it to run their credit card. No running water, only locally-generated electricity, no infrastructure to speak of -- but they've got the ability to run credit cards.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

In the mid-1990s, rather than upgrade its landlines from the creaky old system left behind by the Brits, Bahrain made it easy for people to obtain and use cell phones. It made more sense.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

First things first. ;-)

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Much easier and cheaper. Probably true, here, too.