Wireless-Only Homes Reach 79% of U.S. Adults as Ooma, Google Voice Replace Landlines
Updated
Updated · The Mercury News · Jul 9
Wireless-Only Homes Reach 79% of U.S. Adults as Ooma, Google Voice Replace Landlines
1 articles · Updated · The Mercury News · Jul 9
Summary
79% of U.S. adults and 87% of children lived in wireless-only homes by end-2024, underscoring how traditional landlines have largely vanished from American households.
High costs, worsening call quality and a flood of telemarketing and scam calls are driving that shift, while smartphones and video apps have also eroded the need for a shared home phone.
Ooma pitches an internet-based substitute with a $79.99 Telo device and basic service that costs only taxes and fees—about $7.50 a month in the writer’s area—with a $10 Premier tier.
Google Voice offers another low-cost option, letting one number ring up to six phones and adding texts, voicemail transcripts, spam filtering and number porting for a one-time $20 fee.
The remaining niche for home-style phones is shifting toward backup and family use, including kid-focused services that limit contacts and add address-based 911 without giving children a smartphone.