24 percent of adult Internet users and 19 percent of adults overall report having placed a phone call online, according to a report released yesterday by Pew Research Center.
This research center focused on tracking Internet and American life trends recently conducted a poll with both landline and cell phones users. Of the 2,277 adults surveyed 846 were asked specifically about using the internet to place phone calls, and revealed just how prevalent placing Internet phone calls is.
On top of the growth in number of people using the Internet to place phone calls, these two other stats stood out to us:
- On any given day 5% of internet users are going online to place phone calls.
- 7% of cell phone owners had participated in video calls or online chats with their handheld device.
As for demographics, as you’d guess, those younger, in urban areas, college educated, and with higher incomes are most apt to have made Internet phone calls. Interestingly, Hispanic adult Internet users were even more apt to place phone calls online, speaking to its draw as being a cheaper method to place calls internationally.
Other interesting takeaways from the report have to deal with the change in terminology away from VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocal) to more digestible and consumer facing brands like Skype:
That changed wording might account for some of the increase, but there is little doubt that the popularity of online phone calling has picked up over time for several reasons: It is free or cheaper than other types of phone calling; it is enabled on many handheld devices like smartphones and tablet computers; more and more meetings and classroom activities exploit online phone connections along with video capabilities; and more families and friends are building online calls into their communications streams.”
