Skip navigation

Pew: Gains in Broadband Use, VoIP Awareness

Home broadband adoption in the U.S. grew to 42 percent, according to a stury from Pew Internet, which also found that awareness of VoIP is growingr apidly.

Adoption of high-speed Internet at home grew twice as fast in the year prior to March 2006 than in the same time frame from 2004 to 2005, according to a report of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

At the end of March 2006, 42 percent of Americans had high-speed at home, up from 30 percent in March 2005, or a 40 percent increase. Broadband adoption is viewed by many as a leading indicator of data center demand, as it provides a larger user base for digital delivery of phone calls, videos, games and music. There are lots of additional interesting tidbits here:

  • Awareness and Use of VoIP is Growing Fast: As of the end of 2005, 61 million Americans say they have heard of the service - up by 86 percent since February 2004 - and approximately 3 percent of Internet users have VoIP service at home. Of those with VoIP at home, about half have given up their traditional landline phone. Among respondents who identify themselves as "early adopters" of technology, one in ten (10%) haveVoIP telephone service at home

  • Aggressive discounting has helped telcos offering DSL service overcome cable companies' lead in the broadband market. DSL accounted for 50 percent of the home broadband market in our latest data while cable modem providers had 41 percent. This is an exact reversal of market shares from a year earlier, and DSL has a significant price advantage over cable modem service.
  • African Americans, whose home broadband penetration grew by 121 percent, from 14 percent of all adults to 31 percent with high-speed at home.