It's clear that landlines' best days are behind them.
Nearly 34% of American homes are now cell phone-only households -- double the rate from 2008 and nearly triple that of 2007, according to a recent government study.
Sales are plunging. Verizon's landline revenue has fallen 19% since 2007, and AT&T's is down 16.5% over same period.
Still, it's unlikely that the nation's two biggest telecom giants will ditch their landline businesses entirely.
Even as consumers' usage drops, both companies have growing cable TV and broadband Internet businesses that make use of the wireline infrastructure. Also, a large number of corporate clients rely on landline service.
Cellular communications actually are mostly transmitted over wires, with just the cell phone-to-tower communication taking place over airwaves. If either company were to sell or spin off its landline business, it would need to pay hefty licensing fees to use that infrastructure, as Sprint and T-Mobile do today.
Landlines also make up a surprisingly large chunk of the telecom giants' sales, even as their overall volume declines. Last year, landline services accounted for 47% of AT&T's revenue and 37% of Verizon's sales.
That's not to say the telecom giants are bullish on landlines' future. Both companies are exploring the possibility of shedding much of their landline business.
There's one little obstacle to shedding aging landline assets: Finding someone that wants them.
"There is a serious lack of buyers on the market," says Mike McCormack, an analyst at Nomura Securities.
"They don't want to take a little piece here, and a little there -- it's much easier to take a whole state."
