Duff McCartney
09-22-2005, 09:50 PM
Broadband users signing up at slower rate
So many Americans have already moved from slower to high-speed Internet connections on their home computers that the growth rate of new high-speed customers is tapering off, a new report says.
The Pew Research Center found that from December 2004 to May 2005 the number increased only 3 percent -- a statistically insignificant rise. By contrast, from November 2003 to May 2004, the number of adults with high-speed Internet at home rose 20 percent, according to the study released Wednesday.
Adults who use an older and slower connection -- a dial-up phone number -- to gain access to the Internet expressed far less desire to switch to a high-speed connection -- available from their phone or cable companies -- in 2005 compared with 2002. The findings suggest the adoption of high-speed Internet service in America has gone from rapidly climbing to approaching a plateau.
``There are fewer people hankering for high speed now and that means less pent-up demand for broadband,'' said John B. Horrigan, the report's author.
Dial-up customers who were frustrated by their connection speeds three years ago have probably already upgraded, and remaining dial-up customers are not likely to make the switch because they don't go online that often, according to the report.
``Today's dial-up users are older, less educated and with lower income than their counterparts in 2002, all factors associated with tepid Internet use,'' Horrigan said. ``With fewer new Internet users coming online these days, the stock of potential broadband subscribers is not being replenished.''
Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin, who reviewed the Pew study, said it documents a bona fide lull in the growth of high-speed Internet services, but said the lull is only temporary.
``As content becomes richer and more compelling, and as prices go down, I have to believe we'll see it take off again,'' he said.
Telecommunications and cable companies are investing huge amounts of money into technology -- such as fiber optics -- that will deliver video and television to devices over the Internet, he said. And when those services are offered to mainstream consumers in about three years, more people will sign up for high-speed Internet access.
``It's inevitable that it'll go up again,'' Bajarin said. ``The cable guys are counting on that. If you're Verizon, you're not pouring millions into a fiber-optic network if you're not expecting that to rise.''
Pew surveyed about 2,000 Americans twice a year from 2002 to 2005 for the report. As of this spring, 66 million Americans had high-speed Internet connections at home, the study found.
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Personally, I made the switch a month after I bought my computer three years ago and have never looked back. I can't imagine ever going back to dial up.
So many Americans have already moved from slower to high-speed Internet connections on their home computers that the growth rate of new high-speed customers is tapering off, a new report says.
The Pew Research Center found that from December 2004 to May 2005 the number increased only 3 percent -- a statistically insignificant rise. By contrast, from November 2003 to May 2004, the number of adults with high-speed Internet at home rose 20 percent, according to the study released Wednesday.
Adults who use an older and slower connection -- a dial-up phone number -- to gain access to the Internet expressed far less desire to switch to a high-speed connection -- available from their phone or cable companies -- in 2005 compared with 2002. The findings suggest the adoption of high-speed Internet service in America has gone from rapidly climbing to approaching a plateau.
``There are fewer people hankering for high speed now and that means less pent-up demand for broadband,'' said John B. Horrigan, the report's author.
Dial-up customers who were frustrated by their connection speeds three years ago have probably already upgraded, and remaining dial-up customers are not likely to make the switch because they don't go online that often, according to the report.
``Today's dial-up users are older, less educated and with lower income than their counterparts in 2002, all factors associated with tepid Internet use,'' Horrigan said. ``With fewer new Internet users coming online these days, the stock of potential broadband subscribers is not being replenished.''
Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin, who reviewed the Pew study, said it documents a bona fide lull in the growth of high-speed Internet services, but said the lull is only temporary.
``As content becomes richer and more compelling, and as prices go down, I have to believe we'll see it take off again,'' he said.
Telecommunications and cable companies are investing huge amounts of money into technology -- such as fiber optics -- that will deliver video and television to devices over the Internet, he said. And when those services are offered to mainstream consumers in about three years, more people will sign up for high-speed Internet access.
``It's inevitable that it'll go up again,'' Bajarin said. ``The cable guys are counting on that. If you're Verizon, you're not pouring millions into a fiber-optic network if you're not expecting that to rise.''
Pew surveyed about 2,000 Americans twice a year from 2002 to 2005 for the report. As of this spring, 66 million Americans had high-speed Internet connections at home, the study found.
-----------------------------------------
Personally, I made the switch a month after I bought my computer three years ago and have never looked back. I can't imagine ever going back to dial up.