A recent research study indicates that broadband Internet usage in homes is up to 53% in the United States. In all, 72% of Internet connections in the US are broadband compared to 60% last year. Slowly but surely, dial-up is making it’s way out the door.
The study also indicated that the decision to have a broadband connection largely depends on household incomes. For example, only 39% of households with an income under $50,000 get broadband Internet. This is compared to the 68% of households that have a broadband connection with an income over $50,000.
I think broadband Internet is one of those things that once you have it, you don’t know how you managed without, and you know for sure you could never go back. While broadband is more expensive than dial-up , it’s worth every penny.
Leichtman Research Group also forecasts that the number of people using broadband Internet will increase dramatically, by over 40 million within the next five years! I think we can start to say our farewells to dial-up. Once it’s gone, it won’t be coming back, assuming broadband services are able to meet the needs of all households including those with a lower annual income.
Source: GigaOm
when verizon fios is rolled out everywhere,
their 768kb dsl will be the new dial up
I believe the same thing will happen with Broadband that happened with Dial-up pricing will happen with broadband. The price will come down witgh time and competition.
Well, the cost of dial-up is still more than I ever expected. Heck, I’ve seen DSL plans cheaper than what AOL charges for dial-up.
Lately, I’ve read a lot of articles about broadband Internet usage increasing in US households, but there way too few articles informing the public about the increase in broadband deployment. There is no comprehensive and reliable database of the availability, penetration, speed or price of broadband services in the United States. This is surprising since Congress directed the FCC to “determine whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”
In the US, DSL generally reaches speeds of up to 1.5 – 3.0 mbps at a price averaging $30 – $50 per month while cable modems generally reach speeds of 3 – 5 mbps for $40 – $50 per month. In Japan, an average connection with a speed of 26 mbps costs about $22 per month. Check out the “Speed Matters” campaign at [speedmatters.org] and read up on what policies the US should implement in order to deliver universal, affordable broadband access for everyone.