Cell-onlys vary widely across states, report

US-- A report published yesterday points to wide variation in the penetration of cellphone-only homes across the US – from 26.2% in Oklahoma to 5.1% in Vermont.

After Oklahoma comes Utah (25.5%), Nebraska (23.2%), Arkansas (22.6%) and Idaho (22.1%), while Connecticut (5.6%), Delaware (5.7%), South Dakota (6.4%) and Rhode Island (7.9%) follow Vermont as the states with the lowest percentage of homes without landlines.

The estimates were made by the National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS), which noted massive differences in cell-only penetration even within particular regions.

Because of the absence of state-level prevalence estimates for the wireless-only population, NCHS said survey researchers interested in combining state-level samples of cell-only households with samples of landline homes have typically relied on national or regional estimates of the relative sizes of the two populations.

“The results in this report clearly show that, for many states, national and regional estimates are not sufficiently accurate for these purposes,” NCHS said.

State-level estimates are based on the results of the NCHS's 2007 National Health Interview Survey. In that year, 14.7% of homes nationwide were thought to be cell-only, but in the first half of 2008 that figure had risen to 17.5%.

To download a copy of the state-level report, click here.

Author: Brian Tarran

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