Residential Telephone Service Survey (RTSS)

Residential Telephone Service Survey (RTSS)
Summary of changes
Other reference periods
Related products

Detailed information for November 2001

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

2 times per year

Record number:

4426

The objectives of this survey are to collect information on telephone penetration rates across Canada and to collect information on non-subscriber characteristics.

Data release - February 21, 2002

Description

The Residential Telephone Service Survey (RTSS) has been conducted for Bell Canada since the Fall of 1998. The RTSS monitors residential phone penetration rates and reasons for non-subscribing, to assist the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication Commission in deciding about rate increases, decreases or subsidies.

Reference period: The survey was conducted bi-annually in 2000, 2001, 2002 (May and November) and 2004 (May and December). In 2003, it was conducted once (in May).

Collection period: The collection period is the Labour Force Survey (LFS) interview week, usually the third week of the month (the second week in December).

Subjects

  • Information and communications technology
  • Telecommunication industries

Data sources and methodology

Target population

All households in Canada with the following two exceptions:

1) households located in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and
2) households located on Indian Reserves.

Instrument design

This short and simple questionnaire was designed by the project team. It asks respondents for the total number of different telephone numbers for their residence including cell phone numbers and those used for business. It asks if all of the reported numbers are for cell phones only and asks for confirmation if they report to having cell phones only. If they report having no phone lines the questionnaire goes on to determine the reasons for not having a phone and if the respondent has alternative access to a phone in case of emergency. Finally, everyone is asked if their total annual household income is more or less then the low income cut-off value for their geographic area.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Information for the Residential Telephone Service Survey is obtained from a knowledgeable household member. Upon completion of the Labour Force Survey interview, the interviewer introduces the RTSS and proceeds with the interview with the respondent's permission.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Estimation

The principles behind the calculation of the weights for the Residential Telephone Service Survey are nearly identical to those for the LFS. However, this survey is a household-weighted survey, not a person-weighted survey. Also, further adjustments are made to the LFS sub-weights in order to derive a final weight for the individual records on the Residential Telephone Service Survey microdata file.

1) An adjustment to account for the use of a five-sixths sub-sample, instead of the full LFS sample.

2) A province-stratum adjustment to account for the additional non-response to the supplementary survey, i.e., non-response to the Residential Telephone Service Survey for individuals who did respond to the LFS or for which the previous month's LFS data was brought forward. Note that a stratum roughly corresponds to an employment insurance economic region (EIER)-economic region (ER) region (as described in Section 5.2.2 of the User Guide).

3) The final adjustment ensured that estimates produced for a province-household size group would agree with the known population totals for that province-household size group. The adjustments were made for household size groupings of one person, two people and three or more people.

Documentation

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