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Broadband Majority in US
TheSync writes "NetworkWorldFusion has a report that the majority of US Internet users now connect using broadband, according to NetRatings. There are 63 million broadband users (51%) and 61 million (49%) dial-up users in the US. Broadband was most prevalent among people ages 18 to 20."
It works the same as Nielsen ratings for TV. A few years ago select viewers were asked to pen down what they were watching every 15 minutes. Now it's a device directly connected to the cable box/TV.
Of course, you have to agree to have one.
I have broadband only because I have the knowlege to set up a 1 mile 802.11b point to point link to someone willing to let me put DSL on their phone-line.
Before that, I lived with a 56k full-time dial-up connection for many years.
As someone moving from home (dialup) and to school (broadband), the answer is price. My parents get dialup for something like $14 a month, whereas 3Mbps cable internet is a shade under $60. People that get dialup don't get it for it's speed, they get it for the price. My parents don't use the internet at home so they don't know the aggrevation of trying to download a 266MB Windows XP SP2 update over modem.
Nielsen chose us once, they offer some cool stuff in return for letting them monitor. I think you could get a DVD player or a new TV, etc..
They wanted a box connected to every device capable of TV reception. I didn't have a problem with them putting them on the TVs or VCRs, but when I found out it included the TV tuner in the Voodoo 3 3500 I had at the time, I told them no. I draw the line right around fucking with my PC, even if it's a completely external device.
But others probably wouldn't care. Hell, if all you do is read e-mail and do a little online browsing, it wouldn't be a big deal, expecially if you got something cool in return.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
SBC is now offering 1.5Mbps/128kbps for $26.95 a month. Thats two dollars more a month than AOL dialup and $5 more a month than SBC's dialup. It also comes with a free modem and home installation kit with a one year contract. That was enough to get me to switch over my parents (finally), and the last time I went home half the people in the neighborhood who didn't have DSL and some who had cable have moved over to SBC's offering. Apparently they also offer a 3.0Mbps/384kbps for $36.99 too...if I had a landline I'd probably drop my cable for that.
What the article doesn't say, is that busy signals are retried until someone answers.
Ie; they generate a big list of numbers, then work through that list. They don't get a busy signal and just cross it off the list automatically.
It could just as well that you have broadband, and your TiVo's just phoning home to sell you out.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
World? Try South Korea and Canada.
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Broadband penetration in Europe hasn't even reached 20%:
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1
Canada's around 65%, and South Korea is 80% or more. Everyone else is lower than the US.