An Amplitude Research survey of 2,400 consumers, including 2,000 cell phone users - conducted over a two-week period ending Sept. 20, 2005 - revealed strong support of a policy that limits cell phone usage to immediately before or immediately after school, but not during school hours. Overall, 85% of the respondents would support such a policy, with similarly high levels of support among the 2,000 cell phone user respondents and the 1,100 respondents with school age children.

Commented Steve Birnkrant, CEO of Amplitude Research, "While there was overall strong agreement from respondents residing in all regions of the country that cell phone usage can be disruptive to the classroom environment and support of a policy limiting such use, we found that respondents residing in the Pacific region of the country (Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, and Hawaii) were not as strong in their support as respondents residing in the Middle Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) or East North Central (Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio) regions."

Some other noteworthy findings of the responses to the Amplitude Research survey on cell phone usage include:

- Of the 1,100 parents surveyed with school age children, 23% allow their elementary school children to have a cell phone, 53% allow their middle school children to have a cell phone, and 72% allow their high school children to have a cell phone.

- Of the 1,100 parents surveyed with school age children, 55% agree with the statement that "a cell phone is a vital device for a child when not in an adult's presence," with significantly higher levels of agreement among parents with children primarily attending urban or suburban schools than rural area parents.

- Almost 40% of the 318 parents who allow their high school child to possess a cell phone indicate that their child helps pay for their own cell phone usage.

- Of the parents surveyed who allow their children to take a cell phone to school, 84% of high school parents indicate that the school has a policy regarding student use at school, 80% of middle school parents indicate that the school has a policy, but only 68% of elementary school parents indicate that the school has a policy with 16% indicating that they "don't know" of the school's policy and 16% indicating that the school has no policy.

- Of the 1,100 parents surveyed with school age children, 21% were "shocked by the amount of the first cell phone bill." Of the 237 respondents who were shocked by the amount of the bill, 45% identified "excessive use by the child" as the primary reason, with 31% identifying "text messaging" and 19% identifying "insufficiently explained billing rules by the wireless provider."

Amplitude Research surveyed 2,400 U.S. consumers over a two week period beginning on Sept. 6, 2005 and ending on Sept. 20, 2005. The margin of error was 2.17% at a 95% confidence level for all respondents, and 2.94% among cell phone users.