WASHINGTON: The vast majority of US adults now use a smartphone and have high-speed Internet at home, following modest growth over the past two years, a survey showed on June 3.

The Pew Research Center said 85% of adults have smartphones, up from 81% in 2019, while 77% reported home broadband subscriptions, four percentage points higher than in a similar survey two years earlier.

The survey showed 91% had Internet access either from a smartphone or home broadband, Pew said.

But the figures show a stubbornly large segment of the population lacking home broadband, with many people saying the cost is too high either for a computer or an Internet subscription.

The survey, taken as more people rely on the Internet for work, school and other activities, also showed 30% of respondents often or sometimes experienced problems connecting to the Internet at home. That included 9% who say such problems happen often.

The researchers found roughly 15% of US adults are “smartphone-only” Internet users, who have no broadband connection at home.

The survey also found smartphone usage correlated with age, with 96% of 18- to 29-year-olds using mobile handsets compared with 61% for those over 65. Smartphone adoption was also correlated to higher household income and higher levels of education.

For home broadband - a topic being debated by US lawmakers and policymakers seeking to encourage Internet adoption - income levels were a key factor. Just 57% of those with household incomes under US$30,000 annually had high-speed connections, compared with more than 90% for those earning more than US$75,000 .

“While there has been slight growth in the share who say they subscribe to high-speed Internet, about a quarter of the population still does not have a broadband Internet connection at home,” said the report led by researcher Andrew Perrin.

“And broadband non-adopters continue to cite financial constraints as one of the most important reasons why they forgo these services.”

The report was based on a survey of 1,502 US adults from Jan 25 to Feb 8 by cell and landline phone with an estimated margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

 - AFP