USA passes point of more cellphones then landlines

[Fire14]

More Cellphone-Only Than Landline-Only Households in the USA

The United States has passed a milestone in telecommunications history: the percentage of Americans in cellphone-only households now exceeds the percentage of people living in landline-only households, according to Mediamark Research. This is one of the key findings in a newly released MRI white paper.

MRI conducts approximately 26,000 in-home, in-person interviews yearly with U.S. adults, collecting data in two "waves" of interviews with 13,000 respondents.

The landline-only population has been larger than the cell-only population since MRI first began measuring cell phone use in 2000. This remained true up through the company's survey wave fielded from March-October 2006; in that survey period, the cell-only population was 12.4% of the population, compared to 14.5% who were landline-only. In the most current wave (fielded from September 2006-April 2007), those positions were reversed, with the cell-only segment rising to 14.0%, and the landline-only population dropping to 12.3%.

"This milestone is a consequence of two trends - a steepening decline since 2000 in the percentage of households with any landline, accompanied by a rapid rise in the number of households with at least one cellphone," said Andrew Arthur, Vice President of MRI's Market Solutions division and the author of the report. "The MRI data show that 84.5% of people now have now have landlines in their households, while 86.2% now have at least one cellphone."

Young consumers, particularly those who live on their own, dominate the burgeoning cell-only population.

"Logic would suggest that single-person households have less need for a landline. And, of course, fewer income-earners to pay for one," said Arthur. "The economic and practical realities faced by people living alone tend to force a choice between the two technologies and the numbers are particularly striking at the young end of the spectrum. 57.1% of 18-24 year-olds who live in single-person households are now cell-only, making them more than 4 times as likely to be cell-only as the average adult."

You can download the white paper from the MRI website.

More Cellphone-Only Than Landline-Only Households in the USA

[SteveW]

Originally Posted by Fire14

More Cellphone-Only Than Landline-Only Households in the USA

57.1% of 18-24 year-olds who live in single-person households are now cell-only, making them more than 4 times as likely to be cell-only as the average adult."

So "single-person households" includes college kids in their dorm rooms or first apartments? I guess you could define it that way. In my first apartment (before cell phones), I had 3 roommates and we shared one landline. Now, I guess lots of young people in similar situations all have cell phones and no landlines.


SW

[Yankees368]

Originally Posted by SteveW

So "single-person households" includes college kids in their dorm rooms or first apartments? I guess you could define it that way. In my first apartment (before cell phones), I had 3 roommates and we shared one landline. Now, I guess lots of young people in similar situations all have cell phones and no landlines.


SW

Bingo

In the appartment complex I live in (about 1000 college residents), I only know of 1 or 2 people that have actually hooked up to the landline via Verizon. Every single other person just has a cell.

[Mobile Mike]

I'm not surprised. The closest thing to a landline I have is Vonage service.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Yankees368

Bingo

In the appartment complex I live in (about 1000 college residents), I only know of 1 or 2 people that have actually hooked up to the landline via Verizon. Every single other person just has a cell.

Same here; none of the college people I know that live in dorms or in an apartment with roommates have landlines either. They all just rely on their cell phones. No wonder some networks are getting overloaded.

[RJB]

Just goes to show you how times change.

[Yankees368]

Originally Posted by Andy

Same here; none of the college people I know that live in dorms or in an apartment with roommates have landlines either. They all just rely on their cell phones. No wonder some networks are getting overloaded.

Generally, I never have an issue connecting a call on or around campus. Coverage is for the most part fantastic.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Yankees368

Generally, I never have an issue connecting a call on or around campus. Coverage is for the most part fantastic.

I have never had a capacity issue with Verizon around my campus either, but AT&T has capacity issues, especially around lunchtime and in between classes.

[Quint101]

Most people I know have only cell phones... The people I know who have landlines have either skimpy wireless service, have DSL, or they just don't want a cell phone. Most of my family is cell only because of MetroPCS... pricing is simple enough for them... no worrying about high priced AT&T.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Quint101

Most people I know have only cell phones... The people I know who have landlines have either skimpy wireless service, have DSL, or they just don't want a cell phone. Most of my family is cell only because of MetroPCS... pricing is simple enough for them... no worrying about high priced AT&T.

Most people I know do have either landlines or VOIP, but primarily use their cell phones. Most of the people I know, I don't even have or care about their home numbers, we just always know that we can get a hold of each other on our cells, whether we are home or not. No reason to call home, then call the cell or whatever.
We have VOIP at home, but primarily only because we do a lot of international calling, otherwise we wouldn't even have a "Home" phone.

[walkguru]

Wirelessly posted (Walkguru's: Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/3.1.8295/1710; en; U; ssr))

here i am thinking about getting rid of my land line. very interesting.

[cheddar]

We have a home phone because we have dsl. We give it to people/businesses we don't want to have our cell phone. It is sorta like my spamtrap email address.

[Mobile Mike]

Standard landline service is a thing of the past. For some people it is all they have, for many of us we gave it up long ago. You can't take landline service with you when you travel or move. Landline numbers change if you move out of the local service area. Obviously will cellular and VoIP, this is not the case.

Not only that, but I can have my Vonage number simultaneously ring my cell phone when I get a call. It moves with me and there are more web-based features I can take advantage of that a landline number simply can't do.