Is Your Computer On Broadband? by

To go Broadband or not? That is the question! Internet has become a fad striking each and every household’s computers. It’s a bandwagon where everyone gets the enjoyable ride. It has become a craze diligently patronized by small and large scale businesses with an online set up or even those who have decided to put up with the Internet. Customers compete in terms of connection that they have, proudly speaks of having a fast access and sincerely encourages their friends to make that decision. Why are then, some people, refusing to go broadband? It is but noteworthy to understand the basics of broadband, high speed or fast access.
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Tags: high speed internet access. broadband, cable modem, broad band, DSL. T1, wireless

The Internet facilitates an ever-growing range of activities and applications such as educating children; accessing information from across the globe; connecting with people, governments, and organizations; obtaining information about health care; conducting price comparisons; bidding on contracts; and widening entertainment choices. As the volume and complexity of the Internet’s content has grown, so has the need for high-speed access technologies. In light of this trend, it will become increasingly important for Americans to have affordable access to broadband service.

The report demonstrates that broadband use is growing swiftly, and that broadband technologies are expanding the range and frequency of Internet use. Yet, not all geographic locations in the United States are using high-speed services to the same degree. Future surveys will enable us to track our progress in ensuring that all Americans have access to this important information technology

Tags: wireless, cable modem, broad band, high speed internet access. broadband, DSL. T1

When asked, the reasons given for why some Americans choose not to use the Internet or broadband technologies extend beyond issues of geography. Many Americans—41.3 percent of the total U.S. population—still do not use the Internet from any location. But, only 32.4 percent of U.S. households do not contain at least one person who uses the Internet. The key reasons given by those households that have never connected to the Internet at home suggest problems of cost/value and availability, including: “Don’t Need/Not Interested” (41.6 percent), “Too Expensive” (22.9 percent), and “No or Inadequate Computer Available” (22.5 percent). Affordability and computer availability are even more important for those who had Internet service but discontinued it. Major reasons for discontinuing home Internet use include “No or Inadequate Computer Available” (27.5 percent), “Too Expensive” (27.2 percent), and “Don’t Need/Not Interested” (18.4 percent)

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Tags: broad band, DSL. T1, high speed internet access. broadband, cable modem, wireless

In general, home broadband adoption rates vary in ways similar to overall Internet adoption rates, although there are some important geographic differences. As shown in Figure 9, rates of dial-up usage are roughly the same across geographic regions. However, broadband rates are higher in the West and Northeast than in the South and Midwest.

As shown in Table 3, broadband connections at home are less prevalent in rural America (24.7 percent) than in urban areas (40.4 percent), particularly in central cities (40.9 percent). The 2003 CPS supplement found that in rural areas, subscribership for both cable modems (14.3 percent) and DSL (9.2 percent) is lower than national averages (20.6 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively). While broadband usage has grown significantly in all areas since the previous survey, the rural-urban differential continues. However, wireless technologies such as satellite and MMDS are promising technologies for increasing broadband use in rural areas. They are better suited at present than cable or DSL for providing high speed Internet access in areas where population density is low. Even at this early stage of wireless deployment, rural households are slightly more likely than urban households to have satellite or MMDS.

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Tags: DSL. T1, broad band, high speed internet access. broadband, cable modem, wireless

Frequency of use and the number and type of online activities in which people engage vary substantially by whether they have Internet access at home and by the type of home Internet connection. For example, almost one-third (31.9 percent) of Americans access the Internet on a daily basis. Ninety percent of these frequent users have Internet access in their homes. As shown in Table 2, people without Internet access at home are not only much less likely to be Internet users in general, they are also much less likely to be frequent users.

The greater number of online activities in which individuals engage, the higher the likelihood they will have broadband at home. Even though the “frequency of use” variable refers to Internet use from any location, those individuals with broadband in the home are more likely to be daily Internet users (66.1 percent) than those with dial-up at home (51.2 percent).

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Tags: wireless, DSL. T1, cable modem, broad band, high speed internet access. broadband

By far the greatest growth in household connectivity in the last two years has been in the use of broadband technologies. Computer ownership and Internet connections in the home continued to increase between September 2001 and October 2003, albeit at slowing rates (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Percent of Households with Computers and Internet Connections, Selected Years, 1997-2003*

*Note: 2001 and 2003 reflect 2000 Census-based weights and earlier years use 1990 Census-based weights.

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Tags: high speed internet access. broadband, broad band, wireless, DSL. T1, cable modem

With computers now almost as common in American homes as cable television service, the Internet continues to expand in importance as a communication, information, entertainment, and transaction tool.  One sure sign of growing reliance on this medium is the dramatic jump in high-speed, or broadband, Internet connections. The number of households willing to pay a premium over the cost of a basic dial-up connection for broadband access more than doubled between September 2001 and October 2003, growing from 9.9 million to 22.4 million. Underlying this growth is an evolution in the way people are connecting to the Internet.  One in five (19.9 percent) U.S. households and over one-third (36.5 percent) of Internet households now have a high-speed connection, while the number of U.S. households using dial-up service declined by almost 13 percent between 2001 and 2003

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