Pew Internet & American Life Project

Home Broadband Goes Mainstream

Fast internet connections are going mainstream with user-generated content now coming from all sorts of subscribers

May 28, 2006

The number of Americans who have broadband internet connections at home has jumped from 60 million in March 2005 to 84 million in March 2006 - a leap of 40%. A significant part of the increase is tied to internet newcomers who have bypassed dial-up connections and gone straight to high-speed connections.

• As of March 2006, 42% of all American adults had a high-speed internet connection at home. In March 2005, 30% of all adults had high-speed internet at home.
• This growth in broadband adoption has been fueled in part by an increase in internet penetration in the past year, from 66% to 73%. Nearly half of these new internet users subscribe to high-speed services at home.
• The 40% increase in home broadband adoption from March 2005 to March 2006 is double the 20% rate of increase that occurred from March 2004 to March 2005.

Growth in broadband adoption has been very strong in middle-income households, and particularly fast for African Americans and those with low levels of education. And, in a reversal of market share, telephone companies offering digital subscriber line (DSL) services have overtaken cable companies in the broadband world.

• Overall, 35% of all internet users have posted one or more of four types of content to the internet: having one's own blog; having one's own webpage; working on a blog or webpage for work or a group; or sharing self-created content such as a story, artwork, or video.
• An even higher percentage of home broadband users - 42% or about 31 million people - have posted content to the internet. They account for 73% of home internet users who were the source of online content.
• Having a fast, always-on internet connection at home is associated with users' posting content to the internet and thereby shaping the environment of cyberspace.
• Although home dial-up internet users get involved in putting content online, they do not do so at the same rate as broadband users. Just 27% of dial-up users, or about 13 million adults, have placed some sort content online.
• Sharing a variety of creations online is among the most popular kinds of user-generated content. Overall, 36 million internet users have shared their own artwork, photos, stories, or videos on the internet. That comes to 26% of internet users. Home broadband users account for about two-thirds of this number.

Read the full report at pewinternet.org