Reporter-News Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich Lupe Abila gives a shove to her friend, fellow sophomore Brandon Rodriguez, as they send text messages on their cell phones after school at Abilene High School on Thursday. At right, senior Jessika Williams talks on her cell phone.

About four years ago, Everett and Ginny Smith cut ties to a traditional landline phone and went wireless.

The Abilene retirees didn't think too long about ditching the phones they had known their entire lives in favor of two portable cell phones.

"We both have phones, and we thought of the convenience of having a phone with you all the time; that way you don't miss any calls," Everett said.

"And we don't miss the telemarketers on the landline, either," Ginny said with a smile.

Landline use in the United States has dropped significantly in the past four years, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. In 2004, about the time the Smiths cut the phone cord, 6.1 percent of American homes had only wireless phones, but by last year, 15.8 percent had lost the landline.

According to the report, young adults live without landlines most often. For those 25 to 29 years old, 34.5 percent live in households with only wireless phones, while 15.5 percent of those 30 to 44 do.

The older the phone user, the less likely they were to do away with the wire-line phone. By not using a landline, Everett and Ginny are in the minority for Americans reaching retirement -- 8 percent of adults aged 45 to 64 years and 2.2 percent of those 65 and older did not use a landline.

New York has seen the largest decline of landline usage, with a 55 percent drop since 2000, according to a study by analyst company Sanford C. Bernstein first published by USA Today. Texas has experienced the second smallest decline behind Connecticut, losing just 20 percent.

For decades residential landline use increased with population growth, according to the Federal Communications Commission, but since 2000, the number has declined.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics report, one of every eight homes received all or most of their calls by wireless phone, even with a landline available.

AT&T has been one of the largest carriers of landlines. Now it has more wireless users nationwide.

"For AT&T, wireless is the core of our business and is how we intend to grow the business going forward," said Sarah Andreani, a spokeswoman for the telecommunications company. "That doesn't take away from the fact that our wire-line service does remain strong."

Andreani said the company recently passed the mark of 71 million wireless customers, while landline accounts hit about 49 million last year.

Consumers should not expect the nation's system of copper phone lines to disappear. AT&T still pushes its landline-dependent DSL Internet and television services, Homezone and Uverse, which are not available in Abilene, and the company expects businesses to continue trusting landlines.

"We have had a great amount of growth in high speed Internet and video, and that more than offsets the declines in consumer access lines," Andreani said.

AT&T did not release localized numbers to the Reporter-News addressing the Big Country's loss of landlines.

Recently, more phone users have begun using Voice Over Internet Protocol lines, which use the Internet to place phone calls.

One of the largest VOIP companies, Suddenlink, has seen a large increase over the past year. In January 2007, the company had 30,000 users, and now it counts 120,000 systemwide, according to Pete Able, the vice president of communications for Suddenlink.