Report: 80 Percent On Broadband, 3 Percent Still Dialing Up

According to new data out this morning from the Pew Research Center, 70 percent of American adults have “broadband” at home. (Broadband speeds aren’t defined in the report.) Three percent of US adults are still on dial-up.

There are a great many so-called broadband connections that are pretty slow. But that’s another discussion.

As with all things tech, more educated and affluent users are better connected than those with less education and income.

Interestingly, 10 percent of survey respondents have a smartphone but no broadband at home. According to the data:

• 46 percent of Americans have both a home broadband connection and a smartphone
• 24 percent have a home broadband connection, but not a smartphone
• 10 percent have a smartphone, but not a home broadband connection

There’s no discussion of the 10 percent who have smartphones but no broadband connection at home. My guess is that they would tend to be younger, less affluent users.

It will be interesting when more smartphone owners are on 4G networks and have faster mobile connections than their at-home Internet. That may impact user behavior in significant ways and shift more usage to mobile.