The vast majority of U.S. adults now use a smartphone and have high-speed internet at home, following modest growth in the past two years, a survey showed Thursday.
The Pew Research Center said 85% of adults have smartphones up from 81% in 2019, while 77% reported having broadband service at home, 4 percentage points higher than in a similar survey two years ago. before.
The survey showed that 91% had internet access from a smartphone or broadband at home, Pew said.
But the numbers show a significant segment of the population lacking broadband at home, and many people say the cost is too high for a computer or internet contract.
The survey, conducted at a time when more and more people depend on the internet for work, school and other activities, also showed that 30% of those queried frequently or sometimes experienced problems connecting to the internet at home. That includes 9% who say these problems occur frequently.
The researchers found that about 15% of adults in the United States are “smartphone only” internet users, and do not have broadband connection at home.
The survey also found that smartphone use was correlated with age, with 96% of 18-29 year olds using mobile phones compared to 61% of those over 65.
Smartphone adoption was also related to higher family incomes and higher levels of education.
For home broadband, an issue currently debated by US representatives and legislators seeking to encourage internet adoption, income levels were a key factor.
“While there has been a slight growth in the proportion of those who say they have high-speed internet, approximately a quarter of the population still does not have a broadband internet connection at home,” said the report led by the researcher. Andrew Perrin.
“And those who do not hire broadband continue to cite financial constraints as one of the most important reasons they give up these services.”
The report was based on a survey of 1,502 adults from January 25 to February 8 by cell phone and landline with an estimated margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
