Reminds me of the days of land line phones. Initially they were rented, and then the day came when you could go buy a phone at a store instead and drop the rental charge. Still, there were lots of grannies and other non-DIY crowd folks who continued (maybe continue even still?) to pay $8-10 a month for a phone they could buy for not much more than that.
You are correct Doc. Officially, we no longer rent phone sets. However, there are customers who flatly refuse to do it any other way so we still have them on the books as a rental and you are right, they are most often the elderly. At least they get a free phone if it stops working, but you are correct. It is not smart $ wise.
Actually, we still had people up to 10 or 15 years ago who absolutely refused to get off their party line because it was cheaper. We ended up just moving them to private lines and charging the older smaller rate. I doubt any of those are still on the books anymore as old age probably thinned that herd.
I know this because I had to go visit one older gentleman who kept escalating his complaint that he didn't know when he should answer anymore because he no longer had a unique ring pattern. It took all my patience to eventually explain to him how he should answer 'every' time because his neighbors no longer shared his line.
