High Speed Internet Access and Use
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.
The proportion of U.S. households with computers reached 61.8 percent in 2003, and 87.6 percent of those households used their computers to access the Internet. As a result, 54.6 percent of U.S. households had Internet connections (54.1 percent in households with a personal computer or laptop, plus an additional 0.5 percent using a mobile telephone or some other home Internet access device). Household Internet connections increased only four percentage points in the 25 months between the two most recent surveys, compared to an almost nine percentage-point increase during the 13 months separating the previous two surveys (August 2000 and September 2001).
Although the growth of the percentage of overall home Internet connections slowed, dramatic changes occurred in the relative distribution of the various types of Internet connections. Between September 2001 and October 2003, the number of households with Internet connections grew by 6.9 million. However, the percentage of households with high-speed Internet or broadband connections more than doubled, increasing from 9.1 to 19.9 percent of all U.S. households (Figure 1), or by 12 million households. Dial-up connections actually declined by 12.7 percent, or 5.6 million households, during the period. These factors suggest that a transition is underway as Internet households move from dial-up service to faster broadband connections. As shown in Table 1, the increase in Internet totals was due to growth in both of the major high-speed connection technologies: DSL and cable.
Further, it is worth noting that broadband’s rate of diffusion is outpacing that of many popular technologies in the past, such as video cassette recorders (VCRs), the Internet, and personal computers (PCs) (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Household Diffusion of Popular Technologies in the U.S. After Reaching Five Percent Threshold
Source: OECD, Information Technology Outlook, 2004.
Another significant change over the last two years has been in the selection of broadband technologies. Initially, cable modems were the leading broadband technology used to connect to the Internet. Competing technologies, most notably DSL, have gained significant acceptance. Between 2001 and 2003, the number of DSL users nearly tripled. This gain has eroded the substantial market share lead that cable modems enjoyed in 2001. Of the 18.2 percent of U.S. Internet households that had higher-speed Internet capability in 2001, almost two-thirds used cable modems. As shown in Figure 3, DSL’s share has grown over time, although cable still retains a higher market share.
These data measure the presence of computers and Internet connections in the home rather than focusing on the individuals in the home who actually use the Internet. Not everyone in a home with Internet access uses the Internet, however. Furthermore, people without home Internet access may use the Internet at another location, such as school, work, or a public library. Figure 4 shows that 14.2 percent of Internet users—or 8.4 percent of the U.S. population—lack home Internet access and use the Internet elsewhere.
Tags: wireless, high speed internet access. broadband, cable modem, DSL. T1, broad band
High Speed Internet Tags: broadband internet, high speed internet
