Cellphones becoming popular among the homeless, sez newspaper
As if it weren't already fairly obvious that cellphones have gravitated from the "luxury" to the "necessity" category, the Raleigh News & Observer is reporting that even homeless folks are becoming regular mobile users, with a full one-third of the people sporting handsets in a shelter that they visited. Beside wanting phones for the same reasons everyone else does, in some ways they are more vital for the homeless because it gives them a permanent contact number for giving to potential employers. Phones also provide people on the street, who are frequently targets of crime and violence, with some measure of security by giving them a lifeline to help. While the majority of homeless phone owners seem to go the prepaid route, for obvious reasons, the N & O mentions one woman who has maintained her Cingular contract even after losing her house by making payments over the phone.
