Broadband Internet Not Wanted By Most Dial-Up Users

A new study finds some American Internet users are stuck on dial-up simply because they prefer it.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project said the study’s findings contradict broadband providers argument to aggressively increase supply to meet demand.

Pew reported attitude rather than availability is the driving force behind the slower connection.

In fact, the study found 35 percent of users say they’re still on dial-up because broadband prices are too high, while another 19 percent say nothing would persuade them to upgrade.

Only 14 percent of dial-up users say they’re stuck with the older, slower connection technology because they can’t get broadband in their neighborhoods. The study said the remainder of users have other reasons or simply do not know.

"That suggests that 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 it’s worth it for them to make the investment of time and money."

The Pew study found rural Americans have greater trouble getting faster Internet connections. This puts them at a disadvantage for opportunities to work from home or log into classes at distant universities.

Twenty-four percent of rural dial-up users say they would get broadband if it becomes available. That’s a huge increase compared with 11 percent for suburbanites and 3 percent for city dwellers.

Vint Cerf is one of the Internet’s key inventors and he believes the government should be more active in expanding broadband. He thinks many more dial-up users would want a high-speed connection if they had a better idea of what they’re missing. He pointed out there is typically only one broadband provider in many areas across the country, which keeps prices high and speeds low.

"Some residential users may not see a need for higher speeds because they don’t know about or don’t have ability to use high speeds," Cerf said. "My enthusiasm for video conferencing improved dramatically when all family members had MacBook Pros with built-in video cameras, for example."

Overall, Pew found only 10 percent of American now have dial-up access. That’s compared to 55 percent of American adults who enjoy broadband access at home, up from 47 percent a year earlier and 42 percent in March 2007.

Pew said the broadband growth rate has stagnated among blacks and poorer Americans.

The study found older and lower-income Americans are most likely to not invest in home Internet access. And if you look at all Americans with no Internet access at all, about one-third say they have no interest in logging on, even using dial-up speeds.

Pew’s telephone study was conducted April 8 to May 11. The study consisted of 2,251 U.S. adults, including 1,553 Internet users, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The error margins for subgroups are higher – plus or minus 7 percentage points for the dial-up sample.