August 09, 2012
--- If you often find yourself asking, “Can you hear me now?”
on your cell phone, you’re not alone. ---
Thirty-two percent of cell phone
owners experienced dropped calls at least a few times a week, while 72% of
owners encountered that problem occasionally, according to a Pew “Mobile Phone
Problems” survey.
But sometimes cell phone owners might
want a call to drop. Sixty-eight percent of cell
owners receive unwanted sales or
marketing calls. And 25% of cell owners encountered
this problem at least a few times a week.
These
sales calls can be illegal. The survey notes that U.S. law prohibits calls to mobile
phones when they are made with an automated random-digit dialing generator
or make use of prerecorded messages.
Telemarketing problems are not confined to calls. Sixty-nine percent of cellphone owners who use their phones to text say they receive unwanted spam or text messages. Of those, 25% face
problems with spam and unwanted texts at least weekly.
Smartphone
users may have the convenience of the Internet and e-mail at their fingertips,
but they are not immune from technical problems. Smartphone users are more
likely to experience dropped calls (35%) versus 28% of other cellphone owners. They are
also more likely to receive spam or unwanted texts (29%) versus 20% of users who
don’t have smartphones.