Cell phone use climbs high as services expand

No surprise, Adrienne Wade spent a portion of her day last week with her ear glued to her tiny, silver cell phone that doubles as a camera to take snapshots of her dog, cat and three birds.

Wade may not qualify as a cell-phone junkie but she's close.

"I talk on it every single day," said the 21-year-old Southeast Missouri State University student after she made her way across campus while talking to her mom.

A resident of Tampa, Fla., Wade talks to her mother three or four times a day. She estimates she uses about 1,000 minutes of air time a month.

It truly has become a wireless world.

More than 180 million Americans, or about 61 percent of the U.S. population, now own a wireless phone, according to a survey released in mid-March.

U.S. wireless companies picked up 21.7 million new customers in 2004, a 13.7 percent increase for the industry, according to a survey released by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.

And cell phone customers are using their phones at record rates. Americans spent more than 1.1 trillion minutes on their cell phones, which means an average consumer spent about two hours a week on their mobile phones. That's up 33 percent from a year ago, even though an average call lasts just three minutes.

People like Wade are spending more on their phones, too. The average bill is $50.64, up 1.5 percent.

"But it's still cheaper than a regular long-distance bill," Wade said.

Phones are going to become only more popular, those in the industry predict, with new gizmos and gadgets that newer phones are beginning to provide.

New services

A list of some of the new services will make a technophile's mouth water: Playing video games, reading books, watching television, connecting to your computer and listening to the radio.

One phone that's already on the market is Verizon's LG VX8000, a phone that lets you download small clips of video, such as music videos and short subject movies. The phones cost about $269 before service rebates and Verizon spokesman David Clevenger said they're not yet available in the Cape Girardeau market, but they will be.

"We introduced them some time ago in a trial market in San Diego and Washington and it went so well we're now rolling them out across the country," he said. "People love them."

Other soon-to-come chic phones include:

* The Razr, made by Motorola and offered through Cingular, an ultra-thin $400 phone that has advanced features like MPEG4 video playback, Bluetooth wireless technology that allows you to check e-mail, a digital camera and a keypad.

* Sony Ericsson S710a, a high-end camera phone with a clamshell design that allows users to talk and view messaging without having to open their phone. You can use media applications such as Media Player, 3-D games, Music DJ and Internet access. This phone will set you back $449 before rebates.

* Nokia lipstick phones, a stylish, slim model that slides open and contains a camera with a zoom feature and a radio. It doesn't have dial buttons, though; you roll numbers zero through nine to dial a number. Once you store a phone number, you can automatically dial by using voice recognition technology, among other features. If you want this phone, you'll have to shell out $750.

Those phones will probably come down in price in the future.

Meanwhile, most people probably just get the phone that comes with their package.

Breaking land-line tether

Cell phones aren't only for the young, either, said Chris Lorenz, a sales manager for Advance Technologies Products in Jackson.

"The age range varies from the young to up to 70 years old," he said. "People probably like cell phones to keep from being tethered to a land lines. They don't want to wait at home for phone calls anymore."

Lorenz said some of their phones are starting to come with global positioning systems, or GPS, which allow people to see where they are on a map or to see where their teenagers are by tracking their cell phones.

No telemarketers

John Smalley is a sales representative for Singular Red-Skye Wireless, which has stores at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park and on Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

"We are selling more and more," he said. "Especially after our merger with AT&T. We're now the largest carrier in the U.S. We sold well before, but we're selling a lot more now."

Smalley said people like the convenience of the phones.

"It's right there with you," he said. "Plus a lot of people tell me they don't have to deal with telemarketers with a cell phone. That's a big selling point these days."

He said they now have an option called Mobi-TV. For $10 a month, subscribers get up to 24 cable stations, including Fox News, CNN and sports channels.

Robbie Rollins, co-owner of Best Communications with his wife Judi, said the walkie-talkie style phones are also becoming more popular.

"A lot of the other parts of the country is being taken by storm," he said. "It's starting to pick up here. They can be on the east or west coast or Mexico and it still sounds like you're next to them."

Rollins said that wireless phones have come a long way from the big, bulky bag phones that people used to carry in their cars.

"Last night, we were watching 'Dallas,' and it looked like J.R. had a house phone in his car," he said. "But as we continue to have further developments, more and more people are going to grow. It's almost overwhelming, the new technology that's coming out."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137