Just 56% of Alberta households still have a landline — the lowest rate in the country
Landline telephones used to be almost universal in Canadian households but Albertans, in particular, continue to ditch them at the fastest rate in the country, opting for wireless communication devices instead.
Just 55.6 per cent of Albertans reported having a landline in their home in the latest survey of household spending from Statistics Canada, released Friday.
That's down from 71.8 per cent three years earlier, and it continues to be the lowest rate of any province.
Nationally, 63 per cent of Canadians reported having a landline in their home, down from 75.5 per cent in 2014.
Most provinces have seen steady declines in landline usage, with the exceptions of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, where the wired phones are still present in more than 82 per cent of homes.
At the same time, cellphone use continues to edge upward.
Nationally, 89.5 per cent of Canadian homes reported having a least one cellphone in the latest survey, up from 85.6 per cent three years earlier.
Alberta had the highest rate of any province at 93.6 per cent, while Quebec had the lowest at 84.4 per cent.
