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."

Comments

Spyware?

[kmmatthews]

Each participating household provides a profile of the users in the home, and a device connected to each Internet-linked PC in the home logs where those users go on the Internet. [Emphasis mine.]

Wow, I'm really amazed people agreed to do this. The FA doesn't mention it, but I wonder if they were compensated in some manner.

No way in hell I'd want someone to know how often I visit tubgirl..

But seriously, in my mind this is akin to hardware "spyware" - I wonder if these same people would agree to having a key logger installed.. Maybe this is one of the reasons spyware is so prolific? Maybe some people just don't care what the corporate overloads know about them?

(I never said they were smart.....)

Re:Spyware?

[garcia]

But seriously, in my mind this is akin to hardware "spyware" - I wonder if these same people would agree to having a key logger installed..

Probably. Remember these are typically people that don't even know what Spyware is... Hell, my fiancee's brother removed AdAware and SpyBot from a computer I installed it on "because it causes problems." He also removed the firewall for the same reason.

Spyware be damned! We are talking about people that think WinME is the best OS ever (and no I am not kidding).

College

[dlosey]

That age range is popular because internet and email is needed for schooling. Many college students live off campus, but need a decent connection to the internet. Many universities have much of the coursework and homework assignments online. Email is also the preferred communication method

Re:How?

[stratjakt]

A lot of people I know don't do anything more than read email, or at best get the latest scores for their favorite sports.

It's hard to sell these folks on the idea of paying 5 times as much by telling them it'll be "faster", when their entire online experience lasts a half hour a month.

The "killer app" for broadband hasn't really materialized yet.

That said, I could never go back to dialup.

Re:In other news...

[SuperBanana]

The Internet (yes, the Internet) is running at the slowest speed ever, due to the clog being offered forth by the spam zombies, unpatched Windows boxes mass-scanning entire subnets due to virus and worm infection, and residential porn downloads.

In one of those glass-half-empty deals- I'd say it's running at its fastest speed ever, because of all that garbage.

Guess what? Nobody who matters cares. The internet isn't run on ideals and dreamy visions- it's run by backbone companies who, just like the telephone companies with telemarkets- profit from every single bit of it.

Do you really think backbones are going to chase after their customers? Nope. They're going to happily invoice for every bit of it- whether the customer ISP is paying by the byte or needs to upgrade to a faster line, either way- the backbone provider wins. I don't think you'll see them leaping for joy at anti-spam and spyware laws- they'll claim free speech this or that, but in reality be only concerned about loosing traffic that they can bill for.

If bandwidth used by DDoS's and spam couldn't be charged for, the problem would have been stamped out a long, long, long time ago by ISPs and backbones. They have the ability to stop zombies and whatnot- they just don't give a shit.

The role of ISPs and backbone providers

[Infonaut]

They have the ability to stop zombies and whatnot- they just don't give a shit.

It might not be that simple. Imagine if the backbone providers did exercise this supposed power and used it to squish zombies and other Internet Undead. Something tells me there would be a hue and cry about excessive corporate power over the Internet.

Backbone providers likely see it as a utility. You can use electricity to power a hospital or power a meth lab. It's essentially out of their purvue, and they likely want to stay out of policing what people do with the bandwidth they provide. It's good business, and it's probably better for the rest of us, too.