More people using cellphones to access Web

Seventeen percent of U.S. cell phone owners do most of their online browsing using their phones rather than a computer or other device, a survey found. The survey by the Pew Internet & American Life project found most respondents saying they did so for convenience, although some said their phone is their only option for online access. Around 88 percent of U.S. adults own a cell phone as of April 2012 and more than half of them, 55 percent, use their phone to go online, a Pew release said Tuesday. This compares to April 2009 when 31 percent said they used their phone to go online. Less affluent and less well-educated people were also more likely to rely mostly on their phones for Web browsing than those with higher incomes and college or higher levels of education, the Pew survey found. Pew conducted the national telephone survey between March 15 and April 3, 2012 among 2,254 adults age 18 and over, including 903 interviews conducted on the respondent's cell phone. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish, and the margin of error was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, Pew said.