As of December 2007, Oklahoma ranks as the highest state with wireless only households, registering slightly over 26 percent. Vermont registers with the smallest percentage at five. This according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Their report, “Wireless Substitution: State–level Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January–December 2007,” tracks wireless only household trends on a state level basis. The national average for wireless only homes is 17.6 percent (as of 2008) according to the same source. State by state results can be found here. Among other reasons, the CDC tracks this trend because of its implications on phone surveys, which it conducts regularly for its health related research. “These findings are important to CDC because many of our largest surveys are done on calls to landline phone numbers. All of those adults with only cell phones are being missed in these surveys,” said Stephen J. Blumberg, health scientist with CDC′s National Center for Health Statistics and lead author of the study.
The CDC has a right to be concerned. Consumer focus group research done by our sister company, Pivot Group, has found similar findings – one appeal of wireless phones over wireline is the decrease in telemarketing and survey calls they receive. For some, it’s the icing on the cake when debating to cut the cord for wireless only. Apparently, a lot of them live in Oklahoma.
