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Last updated: Thursday, December 17, 2009

The number of households with cell phones but no landlines continues to grow, but the recession doesn’t seem to be forcing poor cellular users to abandon their traditional wired phones any faster than higher-income people are. The finding, from data compiled by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggests that when it comes to telephone habits, peoples’ decisions are affected more by age and where they live than by their economic situations. The latest CDC study, released Wednesday, is consistent with its past reports: Overall, the poor remain likelier than higher earners to live in households that only have cell phones, and the proportion of wireless-only homes at all income levels continues to grow. Yet surprisingly, the rate of growth of cell-only homes is consistent across all income lines despite the economy’s recent swoon, the report shows. Whether households are poor, near poor or not poor, the proportion with only cells has about doubled between the first half of 2006 and the first half of 2009, according to the most recent statistics available. “I think it indicates that economic considerations are not the primary considerations when deciding to drop a landline and become wireless only,” said Stephen Blumberg, a senior scientist at the CDC and an author of the report. “We see where people live, who they live with and how old they are are stronger predictors than income.” Overall, 23 percent of U.S. homes have only cell phones, up from 11 percent in 2006. Among the poor, the proportion of wireless-only households has grown from 16 percent in 2006 to 33 percent this year. During that same period, the number of cell-only homes has grown from 14 percent to 27 percent among the near poor and from 9 percent to 19 percent among those who are not poor. The study considered people to be…

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Callers of All Incomes Ditching Landlines for Cell

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