Matt C. Ebbel '01, who bought his phone at the end of last year, says he normally keeps the phone on vibrator mode, thereby avoiding the embarrassment of having it ring while in class or in the libraray.

"If it rings when I'm in the library, I'll just take the call outside and talk there," he says.

Mark Aakhus, assistant professor of communication at Rutgers University in New Jersey, says shifting expectations about the appropriate use of the technology in public places is encouraging more people to go wireless.

"Students have always talked in class. They now have one more means for doing it, and they are testing the boundaries," Aakhus, who has done research in cellular phone culture, writes in an e-mail message. "I think we can expect stiff warnings about the use of electronic devices prior to and during lectures by professors, whether more lectures will crash as a result of cell phones remains to be seen."

Tools of the Trade

Cellular industry insiders explain that one reason for the mobile explosion is an increase in industry competition that is pushing prices down.

Once the toys of high-power lawyers and Hollywood moguls, cell phones are increasingly within the reach of normal people--even students.

Data from the cellular industry's trade association shows a downward trend in the average monthly bill of cell phone subscribers--down from about $80 per month in 1990 to about $40 per month now.