Cell phone statistics

For nearly three in 10 households, don’t even bother trying to call them on a landline phone. They either only have a cell phone or seldom if ever take calls on their traditional phone.

The federal figures, released this week, showed that reliance on cells is continuing to rise at the expense of wired telephones.

In the second half of last year:

• 16 percent of households only had cell phones

• 13 percent also had landlines but got all or nearly all their calls on their cells

• The number of wireless-only households grew by 2 percentage points since the first half of last year.

• Underscoring the rapid growth, in early 2004 just 5 percent had only cell phones.

• Households with cell phones who rarely if ever use their landlines grew by 1 percentage point since the first half of last year.