U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for November 18

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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TOUCH-TONE PHONES
Profile America — Monday, November 18^th.  We still use the word "dial" to refer to the act of calling someone on the phone — even though several generations have not used a rotary phone — or maybe ever seen one, except in the movies. Push-button, or touch-tone, phones made their debut on this date in 1963. At the time, the service was an extra cost option and was available only in two cities in Pennsylvania. It didn't take long, however, for the speed of placing calls on the new phones to make them popular. In 1963, 81 percent of U.S. homes had telephones. That percentage grew to become almost universal, but the landline percentage is now dropping, as cell phones more and more become the phone of choice. There are more than 300 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources: http://www.k-grayengineeringeducation.com/blog/index.php/2009/11/18/engineering-education-today-in-history-blog-bell-telephone-introduces-push-button-telephone-2/
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 783
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1149.pdf

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

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