56% of Americans Will Be Away from Their Significant Other on Valentine’s Day, According to New Survey from Rebtel

Mobile Phone Trumps All Forms of Communication on Special Day with Majority of Gifts Planned in the $20-$100 Range

Stockholm, Sweden & San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 14, 2012

According to respondents, 24.4% said they were single, with 75.6% dating, married or engaged. Nearly eight out of ten (79.1%) said they planned to celebrate the holiday, with 56.8% of respondents indicating that they have a significant other who will be away from home on Valentines’ Day. Of those who have a significant other away from home, 86.6%, or approximately nine out of ten people are planning to get in touch with them.

As far as what methods people plan on using to stay in touch, the survey showed that mobile phones topped the list accounting for 64.3% of all respondents. VoIP services like Vonage, Rebtel, and Skype came in second with a 15.4% response rate, while calling from landlines (6.4%) and video chat (4.6%) came in third and fourth respectively.

Here’s how communication methods ranked among users if they were only allowed to choose one option:

Mobile phone: 64.3%

VoIP Service: 15.4%

Landline Call: 6.4%

Video Chat: 4.6%

Email: 3.9%

SMS: 2.5%

Social Networks: 1.8%

Instant Messenger: 1.1%

In terms of how users initiated contact, whether through a smartphone or computer, smartphones were an overwhelming favorite, chosen 62.7% versus computers, which only initiated 37.3% of outbound methods.

Also surprising is that when it comes to gifting Valentine’s Day ranks high, with 87.3% of respondents planning to give a gift, and 59.2% of those saying that they would spend between $20 - $100, with nearly two out of ten (19.1%) saying they plan to spend over $100.

“For significant others living away from each other on Valentine’s Day, mobile communications are increasingly called upon to bridge the gap,” said Andreas Bernstrom, CEO of Rebtel. “While voice services and mobile phones have taken the place at the top as preferred methods of communication, video chat services have emerged as viable alternative, and predictably soon could overtake the landline as a more popular way to connect with that special someone on this holiday.”

Overall the study showed that there are roughly an equal number of respondents who planned to spend more (38.5%) or the same (33.5%) on this day compared to an average day for the year, while more than two out of five (21.2%) reported that they intend not to spend any money at all.

About Rebtel

Rebtel is the world’s largest mobile VoIP company after Skype. Today, Rebtel is growing rapidly with more than 15 million callers and with a run rate of over 1 billion minutes per year. The company is on pace to hit $95 million in revenue run rate end of 2012. Rebtel users call through smartphone or desktop applications or any other phone to make free or cheap international calls using either data calls globally or one of the world’s largest local number network for calling from 50 Rebtel countries. For more information, or to start using Rebtel, go to http://www.rebtel.com.

Contact:

Eric Gonzalez

VSCpr for Rebtel

415-272-0836

eric(at)vscpr(dot)com

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Eric Gonzalez
VSC PR
415.272.0836
Email Information