Wireless Substitution

Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, July-December 2008
“Preliminary results from the July-December 2008 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicate that the number of American homes with only wireless telephones continues to grow. More than one of every five American homes (20.2%) had only wireless telephones (also known as cellular telephones, cell phones, or mobile phones) during the second half of 2008, an increase of 2.7 percentage points since the first half of 2008. This is the largest 6-month increase observed since NHIS began collecting data on wireless-only households in 2003. In addition, one of every seven American homes (14.5%) received all or almost all calls on wireless telephones, despite having a landline telephone in the home. This report presents the most up-to-date estimates available from the federal government concerning the size and characteristics of these populations.”
Other interesting stats in the report:
“In the last 6 months of 2008, more than one of every five households (20.2%) did not have a landline telephone but did have at least one wireless telephone (Table 1). Approximately 18.4% of all adults–more than 41 million adults–lived in households with only wireless telephones; 18.7% of all children–nearly 14 million children–lived in households with only wireless telephones.”
“Approximately 1.9% of households had no telephone service (neither wireless nor landline). Nearly 4 million adults (1.7%) and 2 million children (2.4%) lived in these households.”
“- More than three in five adults living only with unrelated adult roommates (60.6%) were in households with only wireless telephones. This is the highest prevalence rate among the population subgroups examined.
– Nearly two in five adults renting their home (39.2%) had only wireless telephones. Adults renting their home were more likely than adults owning their home (9.9%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
– More than two in five adults aged 25-29 years (41.5%) lived in households with only wireless telephones. Approximately one-third (33.1%) of adults aged 18-24 years lived in households with only wireless telephones.
– As age increased from 30 years, the percentage of adults living in households with only wireless telephones decreased: 21.6% for adults aged 30-44 years; 11.6% for adults aged 45-64 years; and 3.3% for adults aged 65 years and over. However, as shown in Table 2 and Figure 2, the percentage of wireless-only adults within each age group has increased over time.
Men (20.0%) were more likely than women (17.0%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
– Adults living in poverty (30.9%) and adults living near poverty (23.8%) were more likely than higher income adults (16.0%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
– Adults living in the South (21.3%) and Midwest (20.8%) were more likely than adults living in the Northeast (11.4%) or West (17.2%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
– Non-Hispanic white adults (16.6%) were less likely than Hispanic adults (25.0%) or non-Hispanic black adults (21.4%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.”
“- Adults with college degrees (18.0%) were more likely to be living in wireless-mostly households than were high school graduates (13.2%) or adults with less education (9.8%).
– Adults living with children (19.2%) were more likely than adults living alone (12.2%) or with only adult relatives (13.2%) to be living in wireless-mostly households.
– Adults living in poverty (9.5%) and adults living near poverty (11.3%) were less likely than higher income adults (18.2%) to be living in wireless-mostly households.
– Adults living in metropolitan areas (15.8%) were more likely to be living in wireless-mostly households than were adults living in more rural areas (13.4%).”
I understand that that this is the first time that the numbers of wireless only households exceed those households that are landline only.
The natural conclusion is that those organizations that depend on phone communication and have a landline model in their minds are missing an opportunity with a significant sector of their markets.
Stephen