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Wireless Use in Los Angeles County
By the Numbers

Wireless, Phones, Voice, Texting, Devices, Smartphones

Photo courtesy of RawPixel.com, ID 414183.

Since 1985, CTIA, a trade association representing the U.S. wireless communications industry, has tracked the evolution of the American wireless industry with a comprehensive annual survey. Their 2019 Annual Survey report provides facts and figures for a 2018 snapshot of the nation’s wireless industry and consumer wireless usage. The numbers are for the nation as a whole and are not broken down for counties or even by state. However, applying CTIA’s national figures proportionately to L.A. County’s relative share of the U.S. population (2017 U.S. Census estimates), we sought to offer an estimate for wireless usage in Los Angeles County.


Wireless, Data
Wireless Data, Gaming, Gamer

Estimated amount of wireless DATA TRAFFIC (in megabytes) used by Los Angeles County consumers during 2018. This equates to 3,599,534 people using data to play Fortnite for 16 hours every day for one year.

Photo by Mimzy via Pixabay.com.


Wireless, Voice, Calls, Minutes
Calls, Telephone, Cellular, Smartphone, Phone

Estimated number of VOICE MINUTES that Los Angeles County consumers spent talking on their mobile devices in 2018. This equates to 249,877 people talking on a phone for 16 hours every day for their entire lives.

Photo by Terimakasih0 via Pixabay.com.


Text Messages
Texting, Text Messages, Texts

Estimated number of TEXT MESSAGES exchanged by Los Angeles County consumers in 2018. This equates to 200 million text messages for every day of 2018 or 2,314 text messages every second.

Photo by Kaboompics via Pixabay.com.


Wireless Devices
Wireless, Devices, Smartphones, Mobile, Cellular, Tablets

Estimated number of WIRELESS DEVICES used by Los Angeles County consumers (about 10.4 million of those devices are smartphones). This equates to about 1.5 devices per person.

Photo by Free-Photos via Pixabay.com.


Sources: CTIA and the U.S. Census Bureau.