The Federal Communications Commission keeps thousands of pages of
records on Americans' phone usage, but does not track Caller ID
subscribership. However, Pew Research conducted a phone-use poll in
March. Using that data, we can estimate the current usage of caller
ID.
According to the Pew poll, (as reported on this Web site:
http://www.counterpunch.org/price09202004.html), 73% of black families
have caller ID versus 47% of white families. To put this in
perspective, let's take a quick look at the U.S. population:
According to the 2000 U.S. census, 75.1% of Americans are white and
12.3% are black. (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html)
That leaves 12.6% everything else.
If we assume that the 12.6% that are neither white nor black use
caller ID at a rate midway between that of blacks and whites, we come
up with an estimate of roughly 52% of the population using caller ID.
Calculations:
12.3% black X 73% likely to use caller ID = 9.2%.
75.1% white X 47% likely to use caller ID = 35.3%.
12.6% other X (73% + 47%)/2 likely to use caller ID = 7.6%.
Sum the percentages to get the percentage of the entire population to
use caller ID.
If you instead assume that the 12.6% other use caller ID at the same
rate as white Americans, your total population usages is just over
50%.
It does appear that the use of caller ID has increased in recent
years. In 2002, only 41% of consumers had caller ID, according to a
survey by the American Teleservices Association.
(http://www.ataconnect.org/consumer2002.htm)
The South had the highest penetration rate at 48%, while the Northeast
was the lowest, at 33%.
The survey breaks down membership by age as well as by region.
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Clarification of Answer by
vercingatorix-ga
on
01 Dec 2004 13:53 PST
Sorry I didn't get to the Louisiana part of the question. I was called
away suddenly.
Louisiana has greater caller ID penetration because it has a higher
black population, the population with the highest use of caller ID.
Using the census data
(http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22000.html), we see that
Louisiana's population is 63.9% white and 32.5% black, allowing for
just 3.6% other. Assuming the 3.6% who are neither black nor white are
60% likely to use caller ID (the average of the 73% for blacks and 47%
for whites), Louisiana's caller ID penetration is 55.9%.
Assuming the "others" use caller ID at the white rate, 47%, the
state's penetration is just under 55.5%.
Given the small proportion of nonblacks and nonwhites in Louisiana,
the assumption for usage for that population is relatively unimportant
in predicting the state's caller ID usage.
V
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