How many U.S. adults make international calls, and how much are they spending? Furthermore, why are they spending much at all when VoIP services are available?
Those are some questions that came up as part of a study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of mobile VoIP company Rebtel. The study found that one in four U.S. adults makes international calls, and of those who spend money to make such calls, the average spend is about $34 a month. That works out to roughly 58.8 million Americans shelling out nearly $1.98 billion in international calls outside of the U.S. monthly and $23.8 billion annually.
For adults who make international calls, the majority (51 percent) do so using a landline, either a traditional landline service provider and/or a VoIP service such as Vonage. Another 44 percent make international phone calls via their mobile phones – through carrier calling rates, special long distance packages and/or a VoIP service/application.
Another 25 percent of those who make international phone calls do so using their computer through software-based services like Skype, while 20 percent use calling cards and 4 percent use something else.
Rebtel believes that over the next few years, the dynamics will shift in its favor, with more switching to low cost calling solutions on mobile phones and away from the landline.
The study also found that of those who make international calls, men are more likely than women to do so via their computer through software-based services like Skype, and men are more likely than women to say that if they were going to change the way they make international calls, they would switch to use their mobile phone VoIP service/application or a landline.
As for ethnic groups, Hispanic respondents led the way in international calls, with 36 percent saying they make them, whereas only 26 percent of the Black/African American respondents said they make calls internationally. For those who spend money to make calls, the average spent per month is $46 for Hispanic respondents, $35 for Black/African American respondents and $34 for the general U.S. population.
The survey was conducted online from Sept. 1-3 among 2,258 adults ages 18 and older.