Mr. Tollefson's chief appreciation is, as he sees it, the ability to have two phones in one. For Austin, Texas, resident Cheri Riesman, the benefit of going wireless was a new-found immunity from telemarketers. Like most all-wireless consumers, Ms. Riesman connects to the Internet from her home via a cable line. Despite such advantages, consumer advocates are quick to find fault with wireless plans. And many people, parents in particular, question whether cellphones alone can meet the needs of their family.
Wireless technology requires that each handset have a separate phone number.
To reach a specific family member, a caller would need a different phone number on hand to contact each parent and child. And unlike land-line phones, the wireless user is billed for incoming calls, too. Any call from one cell to another would count for twice the minutes - an unfriendly statistic for most households, given that the majority of wireless calls are to the immediate family. For example, wireless services start billing outgoing calls from the minute the send button is pressed, not when or if the call goes through. Also, most companies charge by the minute, so a call that lasts for 1 minute and 1 second counts as two minutes.