Remember not too long ago, when “cordless” phones were big, ugly, and good for a sight-gag on a television comedy show? Well, those phones have gotten their revenge:
The number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones has for the first time surpassed those that just have traditional landlines. Twenty percent of households had only cells during the last half of 2008, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey recently released. This compares with 17% of homes with landlines but no cells.
That ratio has changed starkly in recent years: In the first six months of 2003, just 3% of households were wireless only, while 43% stuck with only landlines.
Six in 10 households have both landlines and cell phones. Even so, industry analysts emphasized the public's growing love affair with the versatility of cell phones, which can perform functions like receiving text messages and are also mobile.
"The end game is consumers are paying two bills for the same service," said John Fletcher, an analyst for the market research firm SNL Kagan, referring to cell and landline phones. "Which are they going to choose? They'll choose the one they can take with them in their car."
About a third of people age 18 to 24 live in households with only cell phones, the federal figures showed, making them far likelier than older people to rely exclusively on cells. The same is true of four in 10 people age 25 to 29.
The data was compiled by the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the CDC. The latest survey involved in-person interviews with members of 12,597 households conducted from July through December 2008.
[via Yahoo News]
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