“Colleges, Offices Scrap Landlines,” by Greg Latshaw. USA Today, Tuesday, 30 December 2008.

Colleges elsewhere may be going to cell phones, but not in Mississippi. Our legislature is afraid that there might be some “personal benefit” from having cell phones. The article does point out that there is a tax law that makes accounting for personal and business use of the phone cumbersome but that can be easily solved by the Congress.

Currently I have a landline in my office and a personal cell phone. I oftentimes use my personal cell phone rather than the landline because it is less expensive and easier. If I need to call students, even they may be just down the hall, I have to dial the number, enter my PIN for long-distance calls, and then verify each month that the calls were business related. Not only are landlines cumbersome, we do not even have decent calling plans with them.