People Going Online With a Mobile Phone · U.S. (NTIA, Ages 3+)

## What this measures

The share of U.S. residents aged 3 and over who use a mobile phone to go online, from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey supplement as published by NTIA. July 2011, then about every two years.

## Why it matters

The phone became the main way most Americans reach the internet in a little over a decade. This is the federal count, covering children from age 3.

## How to read it

Percent of the named population, from a survey fielded about every two years (July 2011, 2013 and 2015; November 2017 onward). Each point is dated to its survey month. The standard error is about a quarter of a point for the national figure and stored with each point, so moves under a point between editions are within noise.

## What it does not say

NTIA's "Uses a Mobile Phone" measure sits in its device-use questions: in 2011 and 2013 NTIA reported it as going online with a mobile phone. It is not phone ownership; Pew's smartphone ownership series (`adoption.us.smartphone_adults`) measures that. It says nothing about time spent.

## Source

NTIA Internet Use Survey Data Explorer (variable `mobilePhoneUser`, universe `isPerson`), ntia-analyze-table.csv at https://www.ntia.gov/data/explorer, from the Census Bureau Current Population Survey Computer and Internet Use Supplement. A U.S. Government work (17 U.S.C. §105). NTIA does not endorse any product or service. Refreshed monthly by ntia-sync; every edition is rewritten so revisions land.