U.S. Improves Broadband Penetration RankingsBy one spot, from 25th to 24th... ( old news - 09:17AM Wednesday Aug 22 2007) tags: business · stats · worldAccording to a report from Website Optimization, the United States has improved their broadband penetration ranking from twenty-fifth to twenty-fourth. Broadband penetration in U.S. homes grew 0.2 percentage points to 83.43% of all Internet connected homes, up from 83.28% in June. As of Q1 2007 52.72% of US households had a broadband connection while Australia was at 51.93%. South Korea still leads the pack at 89.38%, with Hong Kong at 87.14%, Monaco at 82.92%, Iceland at 75.76%, Singapore at 75.53%, the Netherlands 73.27%, Denmark at 72.99%, Macau at 72.27%, Isral at 72.07%, Norway at 71.35%. At current growth rates, Hong Kong should pass South Korea in broadband penetration by the summer of 2007. Of course, we're still only one spot above last place, and sit behind countries such as Estonia and Qatar. According to the report, narrowband users connecting at 56Kbps or less now make up 16.57% of active Internet users. The report also notes that 5.79% of workers connect at 56Kbps or less from the office.
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| LOL at report Title of actual report "US Jumps to 24th in Worldwide Broadband Penetration". It's one fricken spot. That's more of a hop than a jump.
What is considered "broadband"?
Interesting
"Narrowband users connecting at 56Kbps or less now make up 16.57% of active Internet users, down 0.2 percentage points from 16.77% in June 2007
In July 2007, broadband penetration in US homes grew 0.2 percentage points to 83.43% up from 83.28% in June. This increase of 0.2 points is below the average increase in broadband of 0.8 points per month over the last six months. US broadband penetration uptake appears to be slowing down over the past few months."
So broadband grew by the same % as narrowband decreased. You want to know why broadband growth slowed? Well because no one is trying to provide broadband to rural areas where people rather not have ANY internet than to put up with dial-up or crappy satelite.
Much of that 16.57% of narrowband users live in areas where they COULD get broadband. They just choose not to. And they aren't likely to switch anytime soon.
Until ISPs decide to expand to areas not currently being served then they shouldn't expect broadband growth to increase much anytime soon. There are tens of MILLIONS of potential broadband customers out there if the ISPs would expand to these areas. | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Somehow, I don't think... It is going to be easy to get a rousing, triumphant group chant of "We're Number 24!!!" going.
Cue the astroturf atomizers. | |
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RockCake
Premium
join:2005-07-12
Woodbridge, VA | Re: Somehow, I don't think... WooHOO! 24! 24! 24! Movin' on up! YES! Look out Estonia, we're comin' after YOU!!
howzat?  | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Re: Somehow, I don't think... Vaguely Unconvincing.  | |
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So What
@nextweb.net
| People CHOOSE not to have it So it's big news and the US sucks because people CHOOSE not to buy a broadband service?
Not WANTING it not the same as can't GET it.
But then again, I don't want to spoil the morning for the America sucks ass crowd so rant on about how we suck and why S. Korea is the greatest thing since sliced bread. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: People CHOOSE not to have it said by So What :
So it's big news and the US sucks because people CHOOSE not to buy a broadband service?
Not WANTING it not the same as can't GET it.
But then again, I don't want to spoil the morning for the America sucks ass crowd so rant on about how we suck and why S. Korea is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
There are lots of people that WANT boradband but can't get it. My best firend is one such example. He lives 3 miles from the city limits thus has no access to broadband. If someone would offer it to him he's ready to give them MONEY. | |
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So What
@nextweb.net | Re: People CHOOSE not to have it Apparently that is not the case. Apparently better than 8 in 10 can get it but barely 5 in 10 CHOOSE to get it. | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
 ·Sprint Broadband D..
1 edit | Re: People CHOOSE not to have it I live in the most densely populated state in the US, NJ. That said, we do have rural areas, areas that do not enjoy the coverage of any broadband scheme. In the past, one could have expected that economies of scale in a state like NJ could have propelled deployment of services to the less-populated areas of the state. But no more.
And that's what is wrong. Both here in NJ and in the rest of the nation.
Increasingly, broadband is necessary for communities to be competitive on an economic basis, especially as regards the attraction of a business base and the resultant tax ratables, not to mention jobs. This is why those de facto redlined communities, in places where they do not meet the requirements of some arcane computer program that divines population densities like the reading of the entrails of a goat, are looking for ways to bring in government-supplied broadband services. They want to compete in the modern economy and they need the tools to compete. Broadband is one of those tools. When they try to compete, the incumbent broadband providers, with their far superior lobbying dollars and political connections that result from them, exert great political and legal pressure, far beyond what these municipalities can afford. This attrits them out of the picture and redlining continues.
There is something very, very wrong with this picture. It goes far beyond mere "choice". I suspect that, at least partially, the use of the word "choice" is a trope.
But situations like this have the nature of a pendulum and the nature of a pendulum is to swing. I expect that the broadband incumbents will, in the fullness of time, discover that the pendulum has stopped going their way and they will find themselves facing new legal realities. Realities like being named utilities, instead of "information services". Because they have pushed the pendulum very far in their favor and have forgotten that when it starts to swing back, it will just go farther in the other direction. | |
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So What
@nextweb.net
| To clarify, according to some sources, 80% of people who can get local phone service qualify for DSL and I'm operating under the assumption that there is near 100% penetration of local POTS service.
»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···874.html
93% of cable ready households can get cable modems.
Between the two is where I get the approximation that better than 8 in 10 US households can get some wired broadband connection. The 96% availability by zip code touted by the FCC doesn't hold much water with me.
So it comes down to yes, there is a tiny minority who can't get broadband but what the numbers clearly show is even when people can get it, they simply don't want it. | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: People CHOOSE not to have it quote:
To clarify, according to some sources, 80% of people who can get local phone service qualify for DSL
It's not even remotely close to that percentage in a significant number of states.... | |
| | | | | tivoboy
join:2004-05-10
Menlo Park, CA
| Re: People CHOOSE not to have it The unfortunate bit here, which is often referenced in other BB penetration posts involving the USA. USA has a lot of poor and uneducated. Many western european countries, scandinavia and some asian are far better off and this is a bit of the driver for beter pentration rates. :-( | |
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So What
@nextweb.net
| The number of states is irrelevant. We're talking about total US households. It may be the case for a few households in Montana compared hundreds of thousands of households in urban centers.
We're not talking about deployment per sq mi, but what % of US HOUSEHOLDS can get broadband and more importantly how many even want it.
All of the data indicates that the VAST majority of total US households can already get broadband services, but barely 1/2 bother to buy it. | |
| | | | | | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH | Re: People CHOOSE not to have it Where do you get the VAST MAJORITY from. | |
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So What
@nextweb.net | Re: People CHOOSE not to have it I already posted this. | |
| | | | | nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
 ·Comcast
| I live in the metro DC area in Maryland, about 6-7 miles outside the beltway. The area I am in was rural 25 years ago, but it's been pretty dense for at least the last ten years and gets denser every year. It's also a wealthy area.
I have been able to get pots since that time, but have never been able to get DSL and never expect to get DSL - I will get FIOS eventually.
For some reason, the incumbent telco has never seen fit to upgrade equipment in this area to offer DSL.
So no service is not always because an area is rural or because everybody living there is "poor"; it's apparent the telcos have various reasons for not serving an area, but one thing is obvious - because they are/were a monopoly, if they don't want to do something, they don't have to. | |
| | | | | | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH | Re: People CHOOSE not to have it Thats the biggest problem. It doesn't seem to make any sense on how those providing service decide who to serve and who not to serve. | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Who pays for that study? The question is germane when attempting to understand the quality of its findings. | |
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Siryak
join:2005-11-26
 ·WildBlue
| said by BF69  :said by So What :
So it's big news and the US sucks because people CHOOSE not to buy a broadband service?
Not WANTING it not the same as can't GET it.
But then again, I don't want to spoil the morning for the America sucks ass crowd so rant on about how we suck and why S. Korea is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
There are lots of people that WANT boradband but can't get it. My best firend is one such example. He lives 3 miles from the city limits thus has no access to broadband. If someone would offer it to him he's ready to give them MONEY. Word. I am already paying $80 a month for 1.5mb on satellite and would glady pay $100 for the same speed in DSL.
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Wildblue Pro Pack / Beam 40 / Laredo NOC / Windows Vista Home Premium | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26 | U.S. Improves Broadband Penetration You mean my bill is going up? I already feel thoroughly penetrated! The next bill must be coming with those little rubber spike thingies on the sides . . .
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A monthly desktop thread should only happen when Paris Hilton buys a computer | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Re: U.S. Improves Broadband Penetration They are getting to deploy a new thingy. It has barbs that run in both directions.
And they expect you to find it a "compelling user experience". | |
| tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| Beware, YMMV! This is the kind of report where the eye of the beholder can't even get anything beyond dialup or satellite broadband..
So, now for the cliche(s)
Take it with a grain of salt.
Or
YMMV (Your mileage may vary).
etc.
In other news:
Ohio floods, justice for the 2004 re-election of $3 gasoline president?
Coincidence? Nah... | |
| | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH
| Re: Beware, YMMV! Yep, I was in the middle of that Ohio flooding yesterday. If I could get broadband to my house, then I would not have to leave home and go to my parents to work. Especially when all the roads in my part of the county were closed.
I took a break yesterday, and walked out the road block coming into the village. A volunteer firefighter was turning vehicles away. One guy said he had to get through, because he had YARDS to mow in Findlay. After they got over 4 inches of rain over night.  | |
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