Broadband adoption increases to 63 percent in U.S.

Home Broadband Adoption 2009 [Pew Research Center]

The Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project has released new survey data that shows American's broadband adoption at its highest rate ever, despite the troubled economy. From May 2008 to April 2009, American homes with broadband Internet rose from 55 percent to 63 percent. During that period, the demographics with the greatest growth included seniors (19 percent to 33 percent), low-income Americans (25 percent to 35 percent), high school graduates (40 percent to 52 percent), older baby boomers (50 percent to 61 percent) and rural Americans (38 percent to 46 percent).

At the same time broadband adoption is increasing, the Pew Center's research discovered that dial-up customers have dropped to an all-time low since 2000, now at just 7 percent of all households.

Perhaps the most important note from the research are the number of choices that customers said they had when it came to broadband service providers. Seventy percent of all survey respondents indicated that they had at least two choices of broadband providers. Sixty percent said they had access to three or more providers. Broadband service is a competitive market in much of the country, and Pew's research underlines that point.