[Mpls] 61 Percent of Internet Users have Broadband at Home

[Timothy J. Salo]

A recent report by Nielsen/NetRatings states that in August, 42 percent
of Americans have broadband Internet access at home, up from 36
percent in January.  The same report says that 61.3 percent of active
Internet users in this country have broadband at home, compared with
51.4 percent last August.  A one-page summary of the report is
available online at:

	http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_050928.pdf

Another recent report, this one from Forrester Research, predicts
that 62 percent of connected households will have broadband
access by the end of the decade.

	http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-5815756.html

Even though the two studies use different measures, (connected
households versus active Internet users), the Nielsen report makes
the Forrester prediction look a bit conservative.

In its April 1, 2005 report, "Saint Paul Wireless Technology
Study", the Saint Paul Office of Technology summarizes key
findings from a January 2004 Gartner report, including:

        "The expansion of online households, which has reached
        a plateau of 60 percent of U.S. households, is inhibited
        by the fact that four out of five offline households do
        not have a PC in the home. ..."

	http://www.stpaul.gov/depts/ot/Wi-FiStudy.pdf

Possible, and I believe not unreasonable, conclusions that could be
drawn from these reports may be:

o	To the extend that the "low" penetration of broadband
	among Internet users is a problem, the rate at which 
	dial-up users are migrating to broadband suggests that
	this "problem" is likely to correct itself, even in
	the absence of major initiatives.

o	Major initiatives probably _are_ required to connect
	offline households, inasmuch as most of them don't
	even have a computer that will enable them to access
	the Internet [at any speed].

I have little insight into computer-less households, (I gave up trying
to count the computers in my household, in part because I wasn't
certain about what should qualify as a "computer").  But, given
the expertise required to keep a PC running reasonably well,
it seems unlikely that unconnected households are likely to run
out and buy a computer, no matter how cheap they are becoming. 

More geeky musings from the keyboard of,

-tjs