More Frustrated Dialup Users Turn to Broadband

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to explore the social impact of the Internet. It said nearly 60 percent of home broadband users cited impatience with dial-up connections or a desire to download files faster as the reason they switched to broadband. Price of service plays a relatively minor role in the home high-speed adoption decision.

"People do more things online the longer they have been Internet users, and the additional waiting sours them on dial-up," said John B. Horrigan, senior research specialist at the Pew Internet & American Life Project and author of the report, based on a February 2004 survey. "Paying more for broadband thus has big efficiency payoffs for many dial-up users. The extra monthly cost is well worth it for high-speed home users, and this is why they tell us price is not a big factor in their move to broadband.”

The survey also revealed that home broadband adoption is up 60 percent since March 2003, with half of that growth since November 2003. A surge in subscription to DSL high-speed Internet connections, which has more than doubled since March 2003, is largely behind the growth in broadband at home, the report said, and DSL now has a 42 percent share of the home broadband market, up from 28 percent in March 2003.

For the first time, more than half (52 percent) of a key demographic group -- college-educated people age 35 and younger -- have broadband connections at home. Only 10 percent of rural Americans go online from home with high-speed connections, about one-third the rate for non-rural Americans, the report said.

For more information, visit: www.pewinternet.org