Shift Away From Landlines Continues

Everyone I know has a mobile phone of some sort. Even my grandmother and mom have one, even though they rarely answer the phones. When it comes to the segment of the population most likely to have and use smartphones it's the younger and tech savvy that are most often leaving the landline behind for mobile phones only. The latest FCC wireless communications report has been published and sheds a bit of light on the number of users leaving landlines behind.

Right now 24.9% of all Americans have no landline phone and use a wireless phone exclusively. I have been in this group for nearly seven years now and haven't missed a landline yet. Among the younger users 25 to 29 years old, the percentage of users with wireless phones only is nearly twice the US average. This is the most impressive number from the report. The US has 308 million people living in the country and 274 million of that number are subscribed to a wireless plan.

I would love to know the percentage of young children in the population today. It would be very interesting to know how many of the roughly 29 million US residents not on wireless are the very young or the very old who aren't able to use a mobile phone. Out of the 274 million subscribers, 55.8 million have a mobile data plan likely to mean they use a smartphone. The report shows AT&T and Verizon lead the wireless market.

[via ArsTechnica]