The home phone landline is a thing of the past, according to a study that found more than one in three people do not know their number.
The poll showed 38 per cent of those asked could not remember their number, and that half kept a landline only as a means of gaining access to the internet.
Will Harnden, chief marketing officer at broadband provider Relish, which carried out the survey, said: "It's a sign of modern times that our landlines are increasingly going unused.
"Many people are not using their landline for its intended purpose, but are forced to pay monthly charges for line rental, on top of the cost of their broadband.
"It seems like now is the time we can finally wave goodbye to the landline."
The survey showed the extent to which landlines appear to have been abandoned or forgotten in terms of physical phone calls, with four in 10 people questioned saying they do not answer the home phone when it rings. Many cited the fear it would be a sales call as the reason.
More than half of those surveyed said they did not know how much their landline cost them each month. It is routinely sold as part of the deal required to get broadband internet access at home, though mobile networks and the emergence of landline-free home broadband could begin to change that.
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