Buying a phone outright has undeniable advantages. Though you’ll need the money upfront, you won’t …

Josh Lowensohn/CNET It may be “good to talk,” as telecom giant BT’s ads put it in the early ’90s. But two decades on, the U.K. has evolved into a nation of texters. According to research published Monday by U.K. communications regulator Ofcom, text messaging is outstripping actually making a call. Last year 58 percent of people communicated via text messaging …

Who ya gonna call? Fewer people, according to Ofcom. The phone regulator says for the first time ever the number of calls on mobile and landlines has fallen, according to its annual state-of-the-nation communications survey. Texting has taken over as the most popular form of communication for Brits, with each of us sending over 50 texts every week. In 2011 …