Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the “Have Nots” in Rural and Urban America.

At the core of U.S. telecommunications policy is the goal of "universal service" -- the idea that all Americans should have access to affordable telephone service. The most commonly used measure of the nation's success in achieving universal service is "telephone penetration" -- the percentage of all U.S. households that have a telephone on-premises.1/ There currently exist two principal sources for nationwide data on telephone penetration: First, the Current Population Survey ("CPS"), conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, three times each year, includes questions on telephone subscription. Second, the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") Industry Analysis Division, within the Common Carrier Bureau, uses the CPS data to produce regular reports that provide a detailed demographic profile of telephone subscribership in the United States.