October 03, 2018
Smartphone-only internet users grow from 12% in 2016 to 20% this year
A growing number of U.S. households are exclusively accessing the internet via smartphones, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
While much of the discussion about cord cutting in the U.S. is focused on households that are canceling cable or satellite TV services, this latest finding indicates the trend is now expanding into broadband services.
“The number of people who are smartphone-only internet users—meaning they own a smartphone but do not have traditional home broadband service—has grown from 12% in 2016 to 20% this year,” according to the latest survey from the polling group.
Moreover, while the proportion of American adults with high-speed broadband service at home has steadily increased since 2000, adoption rates have been declining since 2016. Saturation levels may have peaked in 2016 when 73% of U.S. residents had broadband service at home, according to Pew Research Center’s polling data. As of the beginning of this year, adoption dipped to 65%.
Indeed, the 8% decline in at-home broadband service mirrors the 8% rise that Pew Research Center discovered among smartphone-only internet users. While it’s unclear if the latest trends will hold, the advancement of 5G services could ultimately accelerate the current trajectory in both directions.
Overall, the share of U.S. adults who say they use internet has remained relatively flat since 2016, according to the Pew Research Center.
20% Of Americans Have Replaced WiFi High Speed Internet (Cable/Fiber) With Smartphone Tethering (LTE)
We see it at every customer we visit; some users consuming a vast amount of data and the company having no idea what they are doing. mobilityView solutions can determine this “hotspot” scenario where an employee has replaced their home internet; and instead is using the company provided phone to tether their PC, Gaming Console and all other devices to the internet.
We’ve met with companies that routinely have users consuming 100 gb of cellular data usage; and our all time best/worst was one company telling us of a 500 gb user of cellular data.
The network operators can’t tell you if your employees are hotspotting; we can.
The trends are only getting worse and when 5G hits…. The nightmare will turn into a Tsunami!
https://www.mobilityview.com/contact/request-trial
Smartphone-only internet users grow from 12% in 2016 to 20% this year
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