Students are always looking for ways to save money, and an increasing trend is for them to have only one phone — a cell phone.

The number of people who use cell phones as their primary phone has increased four times in the past three years, according to Mediamark Research Inc., from 1.4 percent to 5.5 percent since 2001. Twelve percent of these exclusive cell phone users are 18 to 24 years old, according to a recent study by the Yankee Group.

“The number of people using cell phones has increased, and the time they spend talking on cell phones has increased as well,” said Jodi Valenta, U.S. Cellular area sales manager. “The trend will be you’ll see an increase in cell phones and a decrease in land line phones. I’m confident that the trend is only going to keep going.”

She said cell phone use will increase not only because of convenience, greater capabilities and safety issues, but also because people want to stay connected.

“I mainly use a cell phone because everyone who needs to get a hold of me knows my cell phone number, and being in college, I just don’t want to pay for another expense,” said Bridget Hesse, senior in health and human performance.

She said her cell phone has more uses because she can take it with her wherever she goes, she can use it in case of an emergency, and cell phones have more functions than regular phones, including text messaging, wireless access and personal voice mail.

“Being in college, it’s a big social atmosphere, so it’s nice if you can have your own personal voice mail,” Hesse said. “Having roommates, there’s a chance you won’t get a message.”

With a cell phone, students can always be connected.

“[Students] want to be in contact,” Valenta said. “You call people now instead of places.”

Whether or not students have a land line also depends on where they live, said Tony Jaeger, senior in civil engineering, who lives off campus.

“For a lot of people, if they have a land line, it’s because it comes with the apartment. When I moved out here, we had to do everything ourselves,” Jaeger said. “I don’t even know if there’s a phone jack out here in this building.”

Many students who have land line phones don’t necessarily use them either, he said.

“We had one last year. No one ever used it — we just gave the number to people we didn’t want to talk to. We rarely ever answered that phone.”

John Kingland, ISU director of telecommunications, said although cell phone use may be increasing, the number of land line phones in the residence halls — around 4,000 — has remained the same, and land line phone use is not decreasing on campus.

“There are about 400,000 telephone calls that are processed each month, and that includes both incoming calls and outgoing calls,” Kingland said. “On average, that means there are about 100 calls a month per phone. There still is a lot of use.”

The price for land line phone service on campus has remained steady as well, Kingland said, although prices off campus may have increased. For many students, it’s cheaper to only have a cell phone.

“I’m just too lazy to get another line,” Jaeger said. “It saves me money.”