Americans moving to mobile Internet–survey

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WASHINGTON — A growing number of Americans use their mobile phones to access the Internet, and some use that as their only device to get online, a survey showed Tuesday.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found 88 percent of US adults had a cell phone of some kind as of April, and 55 percent of them use their phone to go online.

One out of six, or 17 percent of cell phone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device.

Most do so for convenience, but for some their phone is their only option for online access, the survey found.

Young adults and non-whites are most likely to use their cell phones for the majority of their online browsing, it found.

Among 18-29 year-olds, 45 percent said they do most of their online browsing on their mobile device. That was also true of 51 percent of African-American cell Internet users and 43 percent of Latinos.

“Cell phones are convenient, always available — 64 percent of cell-mostly Internet users mention factors related to convenience or the always-available nature of mobile phones when asked for the main reason why they do most of their online browsing on their cell phone,” a Pew report said.

Eighteen percent of cell-mostly Internet users said using their phone is “a simpler, more effective choice for going online,” it added.

The report was based on a telephone survey conducted March 15 to April 3 of 2,254 adults age 18 and over, including 903 interviews conducted on the respondent’s cell phone.