Cell Phones Used by 90 Percent of New Yorkers; Smartphones Used by Nearly Two-Thirds
Landlines No Longer Found in 21 Percent of NY Homes
Three-Quarters of NYers Text; Majority Use Cell Phones for Travel Directions; Nearly Half Use Cells for Email
With 90 percent of New Yorkers now using cell phones, more than one-fifth of New York homes, and more than one-quarter of Upstate New York homes no longer have landlines, according to a Siena Research Institute poll, sponsored by AT&T, released today.
“It’s no surprise that over the last decade or so, cell phone usage has become nearly universal. More and more New York homes are giving up their landline phones every day,” said Dr. Don Levy, Director of the Siena Research Institute. “Today, twice as many New Yorkers make all or most of their phone calls on cell phones compared to those who make all or most of their calls on landlines. And that number will only continue to grow.
“While about two-thirds of New York households have both a landline and at least one cell phone, 21 percent of all households in New York State – including 28 percent of Upstate households – have no landline,” Levy said. “More than one-third of Latinos and New Yorkers under 35-years-old live in households with no landlines.”
Of those who do use landlines, 69 percent of New Yorkers, including 57 percent of Upstaters, say that they receive home telephone service through their cable company, while 29 percent of all and 41 percent of Upstaters say that they have another provider.
Seventy percent of cell phone users – 63 percent of New Yorkers – use smartphones, including 83 percent of those under 35. By a margin of 53-43 percent, most New York smartphone users have chosen iPhones over Androids.
Nearly three-quarters of New Yorkers – including nine in ten New Yorkers under 35 and slightly more than one-quarter of those 65 and older – use their cell phones for texting.
“Texting has become virtually ubiquitous among younger New Yorkers, and even a significant and growing percentage of older New Yorkers are using their cell phones to text,” Levy said. “And cell phone emailing is not far behind. Nearly half of New Yorkers, including more than three-quarters of smartphone users, say they send and receive emails on their cell phones.”
Nearly two-thirds of those with smartphone (63 percent) use it for both work and personal use, compared to 36 percent who only use it for personal use. Nine in ten smartphone users have downloaded apps on to their phone.
More than half of New Yorkers (84 percent of those with smartphones) use their phones for travel directions. More than two-thirds of those with smartphone use it for tracking news (42 percent of all New Yorkers) and Facebook (41 percent of New Yorkers). Additionally, 40 percent of New Yorkers say they use their cell phones to listen to music, 27 percent use them to Skype or Facetime, and 22 percent watch movies on their cell phones.
Half of smartphone users (39 percent of all New Yorkers) use wireless technology – including Bluetooth – from their cars.
Of the 84 percent of New Yorkers who have paid television at home, only 16 percent currently have internet television service. The majority of New Yorkers with paid television service receive it through cable or satellite television.
“The world of communications – both for business and everyday personal use – has changed dramatically in the last decade,” Levy said. “And it appears as if those changes are going to continue and even intensify over the coming years. Just as TV usage grew exponentially throughout the 1950s, the use of smartphones for all kinds of communications and information gathering is growing by leaps and bounds today.”
Ninety percent of smartphone users are satisfied (44 percent completely, 46 percent at least somewhat) with their provider company, and 81 percent say it’s important that their provider be innovative and a leader in technology.
“Mobile technology opens a gateway of promise for all New Yorkers,” said Marissa Shorenstein, New York State President, AT&T. “As the number of New Yorkers with smartphones continues to grow – and the demands those users have for new and increased functionality from their phones grow as well – providers will need to continue to push the envelope to offer expanded services and exceptional quality. Technological innovation will continue to spur our mobile economy and AT&T is proud to make a multibillion dollar nationwide investment in the mobile communications network of the future to sustain this demand.”
The Siena College Research Institute (SRI) conducted 1,404 interviews via land and cell lines with New York State residents from November 16 – 23, 2014. Residents age 18 and older were interviewed from within the statewide universe so as to ensure a representative sample of this population. All statewide data based on a stratified dual-frame probability sample is reported with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. The oversample of Upstate New York residents (a sub-sample of 888) has a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points. The statewide sample was weighted by age, gender and region of New York State to ensure statistical representativeness.
Respondents were contacted via landline or cell phone. The design of the landline sample was conducted so as to ensure the selection of both listed and unlisted telephone numbers, using random digit dialing. The cell phone sample was drawn from a sample of dedicated wireless telephone exchanges from within the State of New York. Respondents were screened for residence in New York State. There were a total of 591 respondents who completed the survey on a cell phone and 813 who completed it on a landline.
The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in New York State. SRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For survey cross-tabs: www.siena.edu/SRI/Research.
