An increasing number of US consumers are abandoning their landlines in favour of wireless options, according to tech research firm MetaFacts.
Recent legislation allows homes to switch their landline number to wireless carriers and it is estimated that 3.5% of PC-using homes no longer have an installed line. This is up from 2.4% in 2002 and 0.3% in 2001.
Growth has been even more pronounced among small households – 5% of single person homes do not have a telephone line, compared with 2.3% last year.
The data, from the newly published Technology User Profile (TUP), also shows that the number of two-line households is in decline, down from 26.5% in 2002 to 23.2% this year.
Telephone Lines In US PC-Using Homes (%)
% Change
Lines
2001
2002
2003
2003 vs 2002
None
0.3
2.4
3.5
45.8
One
72.9
67.0
68.3
1.9
Two
23.8
26.5
23.2
-12.5
Three
2.9
4.1
5.0
22.0
Source: MetaFacts, November 2003
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