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2/3 of Americans Without Broadband Don't Want It

Posted by kdawson on from the if-we-build-it-will-they-come dept.

Ant writes in with news that won't be welcomed by the incoming US administration as it tries to expand the availability of broadband Internet service. A recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project indicates, as noted by Ars Technica, that two-thirds of Americans without broadband don't want it. "...when we look at the overall reasons why Americans don't have broadband, availability isn't the biggest barrier. Neither is price. Those two, combined, only account for one-third of Americans without broadband. Two-thirds simply don't want it. The bigger issue is a lack of perceived value."

8 of 538 comments (clear)

  1. Don't want to pay by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course they want it. They just don't want to pay scary fees for it.

    It's Old Century Ignorance talking. By 2013 this topic won't exist.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
    1. Re:Don't want to pay by shellster_dude · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Um, no they don't. My generation "needs" broadband. A lot of older people,
      especially the elderly, have no need or desire for the internet.
      I suspect that when I am in my eighties, I will have
      much less desire to communicate with the world or check the news on a minute by minute basis.
      Just because some of us use the internet on a regular basis, that
      doesn't mean that everyone would be better off for it.

    2. Re:Don't want to pay by Manywele · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The older generation doesn't know they want it. My parents (~70 years old) resisted dumping AOL dial-up until they were more or less pushed into getting broadband. Now both of them have discovered all the high bandwidth stuff on the web that they actually like and want to watch like videos on gardening or quilting. They don't use it much to communicate, they're not on facebook or twitter, they use the internet for finding information they want and now really appreciate the bandwidth. With dial-up finding what they wanted was just too painful so the percieved value was very low.

    3. Re:Don't want to pay by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is exactly right and can be pushed even further. About 15 or 20 years ago my mother, who is now 85, didn't have a microwave oven and stated flatly that it was because she didn't need or want one even if we told her we'd buy it for her. So we bought her one anyway. Two weeks after she told us she would never use it, she was using it every day for something or other. Lately she has even expressed regret about not taking a basic computer course a number of years ago; now that she realizes how useful it would have been to keep in touch with friends and family. So yes, if people don't realize what they are missing, they won't miss it. Some times this is good, some times this is bad. This could go either way in this case... maybe we'd be better off if instead of watching a youtube video of a person mountain biking, we go out ourselves and get some exercise and talk to real people in person. ;) Now... back to work!

      --
      -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
    4. Re:Don't want to pay by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >>>Some of us need broadband? Have you tried to apply for a job without the internet lately?

      You can't apply for a job using 50k dialup? Huh. I guess I'm just using magic then. (Waves hands over the resume - "transmit!")

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    5. Re:Don't want to pay by ribo-bailey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What will your employers think about your pimp-slapping homepage link?

    6. Re:Don't want to pay by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >>>The older generation doesn't know they want it.

      You (and some others) sound like the TV preacher I recently heard. "Many people don't know they need GAWD in their lives. They don't know it, but they DO need him, because he will make their lives better!" (crowd cheers). "We must give them gawd as soon as possible even if they claim they don't want it. It's for their own good!"

      Replace "gawd" with "broadband" and you have a politician and/or slashdotter.

      (ducks spitball)

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  2. Bad article by RockMFR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The arstechnica article and the Slashdot summary do not make it clear that the 2/3 figure includes people who don't use the Internet at all. For dial-up users, price/availability accounts for about 1/2 of the people who don't have broadband.

    You're always going to have people who don't adopt a new technology. These people shouldn't be used to not improve the technology for the rest of us.