Skip to main content

U.S. Internet Surfers Still Sticking with Dialup

Red Herring reports that by the end of 2005, the number of Americans with home broadband finally eclipsed the number using dialup to get online, according to the Yankee Group. But despite the best efforts of cable Internet and DSL purveyors at wooing potential subscribers, there are a lot of dialup users still out there.

The U.S. home broadband population added 10.5 million people to its ranks in 2005, hitting 40.1 million users. The dialup population slipped nearly 18 percent over the same period, to 36.9 million. By the end of 2009, Yankee estimates the number of broadband users in the U.S. will hit 65.7 million, while the dialup population will shrink to just under 20 million.

Dialup users aren�t shedding their slower connections more quickly for a variety of reasons. But 45.5 percent of participants in a recent survey said they weren�t switching to broadband because it was too expensive. Nearly 31 percent said they simply didn�t want a faster connection. More than 12 percent said they felt there was a lack of pricing options.

Pricing schemes might move beyond temporary promotions soon, however, if AT&T�s recent decision to slash prices on its DSL service can initiate a price war among service providers.

Popular posts from this blog

Rise of Software-Defined LEO Satellites

From my vantage point, few areas are evolving as rapidly and with such profound implications as the space sector. For decades, satellites were essentially fixed hardware – powerful, expensive, but ultimately immutable once launched. That paradigm is undergoing a transition driven by Software-Defined Satellites (SDS). A recent market study by ABI Research underscores this transition, painting a picture of technological advancement and a fundamental reshaping of global connectivity, security, and national interests. LEO SDS Market Development The core concept behind SDS is deceptively simple yet revolutionary: decouple the satellite's capabilities from its physical hardware. Instead of launching a satellite designed for a single, fixed purpose (like broadcasting specific frequencies to a specific region), SDS allows operators to modify, upgrade, and reconfigure a satellite's functions after it's in orbit, primarily through software updates. The ABI Research report highlights ...