Within the several years I've lived in New York, cell phone usage has largely overtaken land lines among home users. Seeing a land line in the city other than in a place of business is the sort of phenomenon that causes one to do a double take.

Like plenty of other things in this country, New York is likely in the minority on this one. Still, The New York Times is reporting that the tides are officially changing, with 2007 "likely to be the first calendar year in which U.S. households spend more on cell phone services."

Last year, households spent an average of $524 on cell phone bills versus $542 on residential and pay-phones. Back in 2001, people were spending about three times more on residential calls than on their cell phones.

When corporate phones are counted, though, the tables turned several years ago. Tallying up all the phones in the country, there are roughly 170 million land lines and 250 million cell phones. I suppose it's important to note that, at least in my experience, land lines lend themselves better to multiple users.

Also interesting is the fact that VoIP calls have thus far been included as part of the residential category. This year, they'll be given their own category in the survey.