Fact: Home phones are quickly becoming a thing of the past, at least according to a recent study done by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Nearly 18 percent of American homes use cellular phones as their primary, home phone, forgoing traditional landline versions, reports the CDC.
What’s more is that this trend is climbing. In the first half of 2008, 17.5 percent of homes only owned wireless telephones. That figure is up from 14.7 percent in 2007.
The study also found that region plays a huge role in a person’s decision to eliminate landline phones. For example, in Oklahoma 26.2 percent of households had eliminated landline phones (almost 10 percent above the national average), while families in Vermont reported that only 5.1 percent were wireless.
This info is especially important for the CDC and their National Center for Health Statistics, since they primarily glean data through phone interviews. “All of those adults with only cell phones are being missed in these surveys,” said Stephen J. Blumberg, health scientist with CDC′s National Center for Health Statistics and lead author of the study.
Besides Oklahoma, Middle-American states like Nebraska, Arkansas and Idaho reported the next highest rates of wireless-only households.
East Coast states were the least likely to give up the old landlines. Connecticut, Delaware, South Dakota and Rhode Island had the lowest percentage of cell phone-only rates, after Vermont.
What about you? Do you have a home phone, or does your cell pull double-duty?
– Whitney Teal
