US broadband connections on the rise
p2pnet news view | P2P:- Comcast notwithstanding, the number of home-based broadband connections is up, while dial-ups are plummeting.
But the bottom line?
Broadband adoption has stalled for low-income Americans while many better-off users sign up for premium services able to boost their connection speeds.
That’s the conclusion of a new report which says around 55% of adult Americans now have broadband connections at home, up from 47% who had high-speed access last year at this time.
From March 2006 to March 2007, home broadband adoption grew from 42% of Americans to 47%, says a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey
Growth from March 2007 to April 2008 was 17% compared to 12% from March 2006 to March 2007.
But the April 2008 number for broadband adoption at home is little changed from the 54% in Pew’s December 2007 survey, it says.
Although growth in broadband adoption from 2007 to 2008 was comparable to the 2006-2007, the sources of recent growth differ from prior years.
“Over the past year, growth in broadband adoption at home was strong among lower-middle income Americans, and those over the age of 50,” says the study.
“However, several groups that had shown strong rates of broadband uptake in past years slowed in the 2007-2008 timeframe. Specifically:
- Low-income Americans – defined as those who say their annual household incomes are $20,000 or below. This group showed a change in adoption from 28% in 2007 to 25% in 2008. This recorded decline in broadband adoption is within the margin of error for the surveys, suggesting that adoption was basically flat in this group. Some 14% of the sample reported having an annual household income at $20,000 or less.
- African Americans: The share of African-Americans with broadband at home increased from 40% to 43% from 2007 to 2008. This change is also within the margin of error for the surveys, suggesting little or no growth in broadband adoption for African Americans from 2007 to 2008.
- Urban dwellers: Although 57% of those in urban areas have broadband at home, this represented a growth of 10% from the 2007 level.
- Upper-income Americans: Among those living in households with annual incomes in excess of $100,000, broadband adoption grew from 82% to 85% from 2007 to 2008. This is a modest 4% growth rate at penetration levels nearing saturation.
Other results are summarized in the graph below.
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.Stumble It!
New York Times – xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, August , 2008
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