SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The share of active Internet users who rely on broadband instead of slower dial-up connections jumped 10 percentage points in the last year to 61 percent, according to a survey by Nielsen//NetRatings.
In a report to be released Wednesday, the research firm notes the overall percentage of Americans with access to broadband, or high-speed, always-on Internet connections, has grown to 42 percent of the entire U.S. population from 36 percent earlier this year.
Plunging prices for monthly subscriptions to broadband lines offered by cable television operators or local telephone carriers has helped fuel growing adoption of broadband, analysts say.
The number of residential broadband users rose 16.4 percent in August to 120.8 million from 103.8 million in January, based on estimates from surveys done by Nielsen//NetRatings.
According to the surveys, active Internet users of broadband connections grew 34 percent in the past year, to 86.1 million in August from 64.1 million in August of 2004.
Nielsen defines active users as anyone who has gone online at least once in the last month.
Broadband connections allow Internet users to more quickly perform a variety of online activities, from simple Web surfing to reading e-mail, playing music, running software applications, playing video games or watching advertisements.
As data speeds grow faster, broadband consumers are beginning to watch television, videos and even feature-length films online at home. Not only entertainment, but more and more personal and professional activities can be conducted online.
By contrast, dial-up Internet use over conventional phone lines fell 11.5 percent between August and a year earlier, as 54.3 million users connections rely on this slower method of surfing the Internet, down from 60.6 million in August 2004.
Currently, 38.7 percent of active Internet users continue to rely on a narrowband connection, compared with 48.6 percent in August 2004, Nielsen//NetRatings said.
Dial-up Internet connections dominated the first decade of mainstream Internet use.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/technology/broadband.reut/index.htm
In a report to be released Wednesday, the research firm notes the overall percentage of Americans with access to broadband, or high-speed, always-on Internet connections, has grown to 42 percent of the entire U.S. population from 36 percent earlier this year.
Plunging prices for monthly subscriptions to broadband lines offered by cable television operators or local telephone carriers has helped fuel growing adoption of broadband, analysts say.
The number of residential broadband users rose 16.4 percent in August to 120.8 million from 103.8 million in January, based on estimates from surveys done by Nielsen//NetRatings.
According to the surveys, active Internet users of broadband connections grew 34 percent in the past year, to 86.1 million in August from 64.1 million in August of 2004.
Nielsen defines active users as anyone who has gone online at least once in the last month.
Broadband connections allow Internet users to more quickly perform a variety of online activities, from simple Web surfing to reading e-mail, playing music, running software applications, playing video games or watching advertisements.
As data speeds grow faster, broadband consumers are beginning to watch television, videos and even feature-length films online at home. Not only entertainment, but more and more personal and professional activities can be conducted online.
By contrast, dial-up Internet use over conventional phone lines fell 11.5 percent between August and a year earlier, as 54.3 million users connections rely on this slower method of surfing the Internet, down from 60.6 million in August 2004.
Currently, 38.7 percent of active Internet users continue to rely on a narrowband connection, compared with 48.6 percent in August 2004, Nielsen//NetRatings said.
Dial-up Internet connections dominated the first decade of mainstream Internet use.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/technology/broadband.reut/index.htm
