(NEW YORK) —A new study suggests that attitude rather than availability may be the key reason why more Americans don’t have high-speed Internet access.
The findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project challenge the argument that broadband providers need to more aggressively roll out supply to meet demand.
Only 14% of dial-up users say they’re stuck with the older, slower connection technology because they can’t get broadband in their neighborhoods, Pew reported Wednesday.
Thirty-five percent say they’re still on dial-up because broadband prices are too high, while another 19% say nothing would persuade them to upgrade. The remainder have other reasons or do not know.
“That suggests that solving the supply problem where there are availability gaps is only going to go so far,” said John Horrigan, the study’s author. “It’s going to have to be a process of getting people more engaged with information technology and demonstrating to people it’s worth it for them to make the investment of time and money.”
Nonetheless, the Pew study does support concerns that rural Americans have more trouble getting faster Internet connections, which bring greater opportunities to work from home or log into classes at distant universities. Twenty-four% of rural dial-up users say they would get broadband if it becomes available, compared with 11% for suburbanites and 3% for city dwellers.
Vint Cerf, one of the Internet’s key inventors and an advocate for the idea that the government should be more active in expanding broadband, suspects that many more dial-up users would be interested in going high-speed if they had a better idea…
