Traditional landline telephones seem to be going the way of the telegraph in America, analysts say.

Americans are unplugging their phones in favour of mobiles at a rate of 700,000 a month, and one in four households now relies solely on mobiles. At the current rate, the traditional plug-in telephone will disappear from American homes by 2025.

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects data it uses for health surveys, in 2005, only 7.3 percent of households relied only on mobiles phones. But by the end of 2008, more than 20 percent of households used only mobiles. The trend carries far-reaching implication for polling firms, businesses, telemarketers and emergency responders, who rely on call-tracing software that works on landlines.

At the moment the telemarketers have a hell of a job contacting people on mobiles and annoying them. It also means that those who bother you will calls to find out which political party you will vote for and what colour your toothpaste is, will be only finding out information from luddites.