Eighty Percent of Cell Phone Owners Experience Dropped Wireless Calls at Home; New RCA Cell Docking System Helps Reduce Number Of Dropped Calls

28 September 2005

While millions of Americans currently rely on their wireless phone service for both their business and personal communications, they can't always count on that service to work both at the office and at home. In fact, a new nationwide survey has revealed that 80 percent of U.S. adults who have a cell phone have lost wireless reception when using their cell phone in their own home.

Survey Says: Four Out Of Five Experience Spotty Wireless Coverage At Home

In a survey commissioned by RCA and conducted by Harris Interactive(R), respondents were asked, "How often do you lose reception when talking on your cell phone at home?" Four out of five cell phone owners indicated that they have experienced dropped calls while using their cell phone at home. A full third (33%) said that they "sometimes" experience dropped calls at home, and more than one in ten (11%) said that they "always" experience dropped calls at home. Only one in five (20%) cell phone owners said that they "never" experience dropped calls at home.

As more and more Americans are combining business and personal pursuits - including working from home to be closer to their families, or checking in with the office from the kids' soccer game - the cell phone has become not only a staple business tool, but a lifeline. With the need to stay in touch with everyone from the boss to the babysitter, many people have switched to their cell phones as their primary way of communicating, and dropped calls can be a significant impediment to conducting business or taking care of family matters.

New RCA Cell Docking System Helps Reduce Dropped Calls

"For the millions of Americans who rely on their cell phones as a primary way of communicating with the office and their loved ones, the RCA Cell Docking System is the perfect solution for the home or home office," says Peter Walsh of TLC's Clean Sweep. An organizational consultant for more than 12 years, Walsh has helped scores of harried professionals to simplify their lives, including clients at Fortune 500 companies.

The RCA Cell Docking System enables users to make and receive cellular phone calls using a standard telephone anywhere in the home or office. The system, which also functions as a stand-alone telephone, includes a docking base and a digital cordless handset with recharge base. The cell phone is connected to the docking system base with the included cables. With the docking base located in a room that receives the clearest cellular reception, the system can actually help reduce the number of dropped wireless calls.

"There are many technical solutions now available for streamlining your phone communications. New phone technologies like the RCA Cell Docking System make it easy for you to manage your personal and business calls," says Walsh.

"With the RCA Cell Docking System, you no longer have to wander from room to room in your house to find where you get the best reception," explains Walsh. "Now you can simply use the cordless handset to make your wireless calls from anywhere in the house."

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Survey Methodology

Harris Interactive fielded the online survey on behalf of Thomson between August 19 and 23, 2005 among a nationwide sample of 2,300 U.S. adults ages 18 and over, of whom, 1,951 have a cell phone. The data were weighted to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity and propensity to be online. In theory, with probability samples of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The sampling error for the sample of U.S. adults who have a cell phone is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. This online sample is not a probability sample.

About Harris Interactive(R)

Harris Interactive Inc. (www.harrisinteractive.com) is the 13th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world, perhaps best known for The Harris Poll(R) and for pioneering and engineering Internet-based research methods. The Rochester, New York-based global research company blends premier strategic consulting with innovative and efficient methods of investigation, analysis and application, conducting proprietary and public research globally to help clients achieve clear, material and enduring results.

Blending science and art, Harris Interactive combines its intellectual capital and one of the world's largest online panels of respondents, with premier Internet survey technology and sophisticated research methods to market leadership through its US, Europe (www.harrisinteractive.com/europe) and Asia offices, its wholly owned subsidiary, Novatris in Paris (www.novatris.com), and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies. EOE M/F/D/V

About Thomson - Partner to the Media & Entertainment Industries

Thomson (NYSE:TMS)(EURONEXT:18453) provides technology, systems and services to help its Media & Entertainment clients -- content creators, content distributors and users of its technology -- realize their business goals and optimize their performance in a rapidly changing technology environment. The Group intends to become the preferred partner to the Media & Entertainment industries by offering end-to-end solutions to content creators, video network operators and retailers through its Technicolor, Grass Valley, RCA and THOMSON brands. For more information: www.thomson.net