Online Calling Grows Among Internet Users

Posted June 1st, 2011
Written by RPD Staff

So maybe Steve Ballmer didn’t make such a big mistake after all. After Microsoft’s purchase of online telecom company Skype for $8.5 billion, Pew Research finds that online phone calls are a growing trend among consumers. In fact, according to this research, nearly one-quarter of all Internet users in the United States have made a phone call via services like Skype and Vonage.

Though this may not sound like much, it was just a few years ago (2007 to be exact) that only 8% of users had made phone calls online. Same Pew research, different Pew findings. Video calls are also on the rise, with 7% of U.S. mobile phone users now using their phones for video calls.

So who’s making all the online calls? According to Pew, urban and suburban, and younger Internet users are making the calls.