Buy Just the Broadband

More than 14% of U.S. consumers primarily use their cell phones and not their landlines to make calls, according to a survey released last week by market-research firm In-Stat/MDR. So why bother with a conventional phone at all? Well, until now, all the major phone companies made customers buy landline service if they wanted to buy high-speed DSL Internet access too. But that requirement may go the way of the rotary. Last week Qwest Communications, a Baby Bell operating in 14 Western states, started selling stand-alone DSL service, which means mobile users can save up to $10 a month plus taxes by not buying local phone service. DSL service bundled with MSN costs $49.99 a month, and customers who use an Internet service provider other than MSN pay just $33 monthly. Other phone companies are likely to follow, says Alex Winogradoff of tech consultancy Gartner Research, as they compete against cable-modem providers and non — phone companies selling DSL service.