You Can Have My 28.8 Kbps Penril When You Pry It From My Cold, Dead Hands
by John Paczkowski
Posted on July 3, 2008 at 12:26 PM PT
Dial-up users don’t like broadband?
Obviously, that’s why they’re dial-up users.
An estimated 10 percent of Americans are surfing the net via dial-up connections, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (PDF), most of them by choice. And 62 percent of dial-up users reported no interest whatsoever in upgrading to broadband.
Price was obviously an issue for some (about a third) and access an issue for others (24 percent), but 19 percent said that nothing can convince them to get broadband. Which means broadband growth in the states may be nearing a plateau. “… Solving the supply problem where there are availability gaps is only going to go so far,” said John Horrigan, the study’s author. “It’s going to have to be a process of getting people more engaged with information technology and demonstrating to people that it’s worth it for them to make the investment of time and money.”
And until then, the percentage of adult Americans with home broadband connections will continue to hover around 55 percent.
Comments
I won’t argue with the poll’s numbers, but I must say I have quite a few family members still on dial-up. The main problem is access in rural areas. When there are only a handful of people in a large area, the phone company can’t be bothered to lay hundreds of dollars worth of cable out to them.
There are also a few who are simply to old to care about switching. This generation will die soon (may they rest in peace), so the poll’s numbers will change, certainly.
Posted by Saint Seminole at July 4th, 2008 at 10:27 amSorry: I meant “too old.”
Posted by Saint Seminole at July 4th, 2008 at 10:28 am