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woven into our lives The web used to be all about surfing and email Jun 23, 2009 Across the country, cash-strapped Americans are cutting down on all sorts of extras, from magazine purchases to cable TV. One thing they’re not cutting back on: broadband internet access. In fact, broadband saw big growth the past year, despite average subscription prices rising by 13 percent. That’s according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which found that 63 percent of Americans now have high-speed access at home, compared to 55 percent in May 2008. The increases were driven by groups that have been slow to adopt broadband in the past, including senior citizens and rural Americans. And they came despite average subscription prices climbing from $34.50 per month to $39. Just 9 percent of respondents said they’d cut back on online services because of the economy, compared to 22 percent for cable services and 22 percent of cell phone users. John Horrigan, associate director for research at the Pew Internet Project, talks to Media Life about why broadband subscriptions are growing, why some people still don’t want high-speed at home, and when broadband will reach a saturation point. What did you find most surprising or most interesting about this study? We had seen very modest growth in broadband throughout 2008, when broadband penetration varied between 55 percent and 57 percent. So we were surprised to see the increase to 63 percent in the April 2009 survey – especially in the face of the recession. It also surprised us that respondents reported that their monthly broadband bill increased from an average of $34.50 in 2008 to $39 in 2009. Why are people willing to pay more for this when they're pinching pennies elsewhere? People understand that a home broadband connection is an important avenue of economic opportunity. Many job applications have to be completed online these days, and job postings are online in addition to being advertised in other places. And, of course, many broadband users have a breadth of online habits – whether it’s Facebook, getting news, or gaming. The multiplicity of online habits makes giving it up hard. Where is the big growth coming from in broadband subscriptions (demographically)? We saw very strong growth in adoption for senior citizens, low-income groups, and rural Americans. Here are the data points: Senior citizens: Broadband usage among adults ages 65 or older grew from 19 percent in May 2008 to 30 percent in April 2009. Older baby boomers: Among adults ages 50-64, broadband usage increased from 50 percent in 2008 to 61 percent in 2009. Rural Americans: Adults living in rural America had home high-speed usage grow from 38 percent in 2008 to 46 percent in 2009. Why are we seeing below-average broadband adoption among African Americans? That remains a bit of an open question for us. It may be, as we found in a 2008 report we did on mobile access to data and information, that African Americans are more active users of mobile devices and less engaged with traditional desktop wire-line online access. When will we start to see broadband approaching a saturation point? That is difficult to say. With more than one-third of Americans still without broadband at home, there is still room for improvement in a number of demographic groups, such as older Americans, low-income Americans, and rural citizens. These were high-growth groups in 2008 to 2009, so that is encouraging. But they still lag the average. What are the biggest hurdles to adoption among people who do not have broadband? When asked why they do not have the internet or broadband at home, non-users (either dialup subscribers or non-internet users) cite factors related to the internet’s relevance, availability, usability and price. A third of dial-up users cite price as a barrier, with the remaining two-thirds citing other factors. Overall, most (50 percent) non-adopters cite factors relating to relevance, that is, they don’t see the internet as something they need, or that they are just not interested in getting online. Price plays a lesser role (even with the increase we recorded). Non-adopters tend to be older Americans who aren’t very plugged into the culture of modern information technology. They need hands-on training to help them negotiate an online session and discover the value of having access to the content of cyberspace. Why do broadband users see their connections as so important to their lives and community? In what areas do they say broadband is most important? This was one of the more interesting things we found in the survey – the fact that a majority (55 percent) of broadband users said a broadband connection was “very important” for at least one dimension of civic or community activity (e.g., getting health care information, communicating with others, making their thoughts know to public officials, getting news, or to their community’s general economic climate). Clearly, people see broadband not just as an important thing for the household but also a part of the broader fabric of participation in their communities.
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