Here Comes the Third Wave of Cord Cutting: Home Internet Service

The trend of people cutting their home Internet connections in favor of wireless online connectivity is accelerating, according to the latest survey from Pew Research. No doubt fed by falling prices for wireless service and the spread of unlimited data plans, Internet cord cutting has now reached one in five Americans, almost double the level of two years ago. The percentage of people who say they depend solely on their smartphones to connect to the Internet has risen steadily from 8% in 2013, to 12% in 2016, to 20% in 2018. The trend marks the third wave of cord cutting over the past few decades, following the cutting of landline phones and then cable TV. The latest wave of cutting home Internet could thwart the cable industry’s response to cord cutting of cable TV subscriptions. Analysts expected that most customers who fled cable TV would still buy home Internet service from cable companies. Higher prices for broadband could offset the loss of TV subscription revenue. That assumption may have to be revisited.