BALTIMORE -- While most people own cell phones or their own home phones, hundreds of thousands of people still rent phones.

Nowadays you can buy any kind of phone you want, but Evelyn Sentz never got that message. Even though she has a cell phone and a cordless phone, she said she still has a phone mounted on her wall, and she's still paying for it.

Her son, David Sentz, said he was alerted to it when he opened a bill and was amazed she still had it.

"What caught my attention was that it was in my dad's name, and he passed away in 1985, so I asked my mom, 'What's this bill for?' She said it was for the phone," he told 11 News.

He found out his mother was still leasing the phone.

"I thought I had to," Evelyn Sentz said. "I didn't know I could get another phone without having to pay. I thought it just had to be that way."

She's been paying $22.73 every quarter to lease the phone, adding up to more than $90 a year.

"That's not a lot of money, but that could be a prescription refill or groceries," she said.

Over time, though, is a different story.

"At those prices, you could buy the phone a hundred times over," David Sentz said.

He said he contacted the company from which his mother leased the phone, called QLT Consumer Lease Services. The company said it leases phones to 300,000 residences nationwide, and their customers tend to be 65 years of age and above on average.

"I didn't know I could get another phone without having to pay. I thought it just had to be that way." - Evelyn Sentz

QLT declined an on-camera interview and said through an e-mail that, "When asked, our customers tell us they choose to lease for the products, benefits and services that leasing provides...they appreciate (the phone's) sturdy construction...sound quality and real bell ringers that are easier to hear...and they value the peace of mind our services provide, knowing that we will take care of the phone no matter what, and that a replacement phone will be on their doorstep the next business day following their call."

While QLT said its customers lease because they want to, Evelyn Sentz said she didn't realize she had a choice.

"Nobody said anything to me. I just went along with it," she said.

"If you have parents or grandparents in their 70s and 80s, ask them if they still are leasing their phones. Do mom or grandmom a favor and cancel it," David Sentz said.

"Look into it and check it out, and don't do like I've done all these years. Do it so they can save some money," Evelyn Sentz said.

David Sentz said he canceled his mother's phone and that QLT sent him a pre-paid mailer to return it. He said he bought his mother a new phone for $14.99 and could have gotten it even cheaper than that.