Nearly half of Americans now have high-speed Internet at home

July 5, 2007 – Nearly half (47%) of adults in the US now have high-speed Internet connections at home, according to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life project.

The report, entitled ‘Home Broadband Adoption’, found that 71% of adults in the US use the Internet, and three-quarters of respondents with home connections use broadband, while the remaining quarter are still using dial-up connections.  According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a non-profit organisation, the percentage of US adults with a broadband connection at home has risen from 42% in early 2006 and 30% in early 2005 to the current level of 47%.

The 12% growth rate between 2006 and 2007 for broadband connections in US homes is markedly down from the 40% increase registered the previous year.  However John B. Horrigan, Associate Director of Research at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, attributes this to the uptake by middle-income customers ‘peaking’ in the 2005-06 period: “The moderate growth in home high-speed adoption from 2006 to 2007 is partly a reflection of strong prior-year growth; the low-hanging fruit was picked in 2005.  Luring remaining hard-to-get adults to home broadband is likely to involve showing them the relevance of online content.”

Groups which recorded strong growth in home broadband adoption between 2006 and 2007 included African Americans, of whom 40% now have broadband at home, up 8 percentage points from 2006, and low-income households, with 30% now reporting home broadband, up 9 percentage points from 2006 and equalling the 2005 national average.  Rural Americans also recorded a strong growth, with 31% reporting home broadband, up 6 percentage points from 2006. 

Aaron Smith, research specialist at the Pew Internet Project and co-author of the report along with Horrigan, commented: “Broadband adoption in rural America faces two challenges – network availability and demographics.  Rural Americans tend to be older, less avid online users, and thus less interested in fast home connections.  And some parts of rural America also simply don’t have the infrastructure for providing broadband at home.”  The Home Broadband Adoption report was based on the Pew Internet Project’s February-March survey of 2,200 adults, of whom 996 were found to have a broadband connection at home.

To download the Home Broadband Adoption 2007 report please click here