andrew.kantor@roanoke.com

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For the first time, there are more cellphones in use in the United States than landlines, according to a new federal report. And other studies show that more people are "cutting the cord" and dumping their landlines entirely.

All this is having some interesting ripple effects. While businesses worry about getting in touch with people, people worry about being found.

"If I need or want someone to talk to me, I will call them," said 27-year-old Eric Hudgins of Wytheville, who cut the cord in January. "I dread the day that cellphone numbers become public."

Twenty-two-year-old Michelle Cooper and her husband are also cord-free, and enjoy being off the books. "Hopefully they will not make a cellphone directory," she said. "It's peaceful right now."

The bad news: There is a directory of cellphone numbers in the works.

The good news: It's probably not something to worry about.

Cellphones gained popularity as a primary line among people who moved around a lot - college students, mobile workers and farmers, for example. But the appeal soon spread.

"We just thought it would be pointless to have two cellphones and a home phone," Cooper explained. Besides, she said, a landline isn't cheap.

"If you think about it," she said, "if you added in all the little knickknacks like Call Waiting, buying an answering machine, having them come and install it, the phone going out if the power goes out in a storm ... I just kept thinking about it; it was senseless."

"The phone companies were charging exorbitant amounts just to have my landline on," Hudgins said. Instead, he spends about $80 a month for cell service. "I was paying more than that with a home phone and without the convenience of mobility. I will never use my phone line again."

Thirty-five-year-old Traci McEachern of Roanoke cut out her landline more than two years ago. She said that between her cellphone and broadband Internet service, she simply didn't need it anymore.

"My husband and I are always on the run and rarely spend time at home," she said. "My cellphone service is wonderful."

They aren't alone.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, at the end of 2004 there were approximately 178 million landlines in use, and 181.1 million cellphones.

Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cellphone provider, added almost 2 million wireless customers in the last quarter, a national record according to John Johnson, its director of corporate communications. But during the same time, Verizon saw a 5.5 percent decline in landline connections.

The Pierz Group, which studies information services such as telephone directories, says that 24 percent of people claim their cellphone is their primary phone. The Yankee Group, another research firm, estimates that 15 million Americans forgo a landline entirely.

But while many of them appreciate not being listed anywhere, the coming cellphone directory shouldn't worry them.

For one, it will be entirely opt-in; you'll need to ask to be included.

It also won't be available as a list or database; it will simply add cellphone numbers to the current nationwide 411 service. Someone looking for a cell user by name could find the number, but that number wouldn't be available to, say, telemarketers.

So says Portland, Ore.-based Qsent, which plans to launch the directory in 2006. The company is working with five of the seven major cell-service providers: Alltel, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint and T-Mobile.

And even if you're in the directory, said Qsent spokesman Jeff Fishburn, you'll still be more anonymous than landline users are.

"Once your information is in a phone book, there's no privacy," he explained. "That information can be used in any fashion." That's how telemarketers, fundraisers, political campaigns and others get phone numbers. Qsent's listing simply won't be available that way.

There will be "nothing online, nothing in a phone book," Fishburn said. "No lists can be compiled."

Still, both Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular opted out of the opt-in list.

"Verizon Wireless decided early on in the process that we did not want to participate," said Johnson. "We didn't think the majority of our customers wanted to be listed."

John Rooney, president and chief executive of U.S. Cellular, agreed. "We have a policy against revealing customer phone numbers to anyone," he said. "Our customers do not want a directory, and U.S. Cellular will not participate in it."

This may work well for consumers who want to remain anonymous, especially when it comes to going wireless. But it's not necessarily good for business.

Jerry McNeil, owner of L.R. Bramlett & Son foundation and wall repair in Roanoke, sees firsthand the effects of people cutting the cord - sometimes he can't get in touch with someone.

"When we know a customer's name or an individual's name, or even perhaps the address, I've been unable to find a way to get a phone number," he lamented. "A customer may have called and left a name and left a number, [but] we have a transcription error ... or our answering service fails to get a number," he explained. Without the directory assistance to turn to, he can't get in touch.