Poor Americans Lead Shift to Wireless Homes Abandoning Landlines

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Poor adults in the US continue to lead the shift to wireless-only homes, according to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 55 percent of adults whose income falls below the poverty line had only mobile phones in their homes during the first half of 2013, up 2.9 percentage points from the year before, according to the report. That compares with 35 percent of individuals whose incomes are at least double the poverty threshold. The research shows the portion of all wireless-only households rose to 39 percent from 27 percent in the same period three years ago, while the portion of homes with both landlines and mobile phones fell to 50 percent from 58 percent. The portion of individuals in wireless households, whose incomes are at least double the poverty threshold, gained 4.6 percentage points from a year earlier, the report said.

As consumers move from landlines to wireless phones, low-cost and contract-free carriers -- like billionaire Carlos Slim’s TracFone Wireless -- have attracted attention over Lifeline, the $2.2 billion US phone subsidy for poor Americans. Congressional Republicans earlier in 2013 tried to rein in the program, saying it’s open to abuse and benefits the providers. The Federal Communication Commission’s program subsidizes telephone service -- either wireline or wireless -- for recipients who can’t earn more than 135 percent of the federal poverty line, defined as $23,550 for a family of four in most states. Started in 1985, the Lifeline program pays carriers $9.25 per customer a month.


Poor Americans Lead Shift to Wireless Homes Abandoning Landlines Americans Continue To Drop Their Landline Phones (nextgov) Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January–June 2013 (CDC) CDC: Wireless Phone-Only Household Growth Slows to Six-Year Low (telecompetitor)