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

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."

Comments

Re:Don't want to pay

[Endo13]

And why did the mods label my post "troll"? Just because I hold a minority view? Huh. Talk about tyranny of the democracy (majority).

Because you're trolling. And you know it.

In other news...

[objekt]

1/3 of Americans are hella old and 1/3 of Americans are hella stupid.

Now someone please reply with a post making fun of my use of the word "hella," and thereby get moderated higher than my post.

Re:The country needs broadband.

[Anonymous Bullard]

.. if you Mactards and Linux zealots* start smugging on about how the whole maintenance and vulnerability issue vanishes ..

I pretty much concur with your concerns, but considering the all the network and OS (Linux & Mac OS) plumbing, would it be unthinkable to offer those people remote "terminals" featuring simplified task screens while the actual OS was running on beefy central systems... Come to think of it, we already have that, but it isn't currently packaged and marketed for the unashamed technophobe segment.

I've set up a couple of simplified Linux "nettop" boxes to relatives and they are quite comfortable using them as long as someone configures and keeps the machine going. A decade ago over half of French adults were comfortable enough with a relatively archaic xterm-looking videotex information system running over telephone lines. I suspect its success was partially due to the maintenance-free operation, unlike today's average complicated desktop computers which require a lot of superfluous knowledge to operate and maintain.

Most people who are able to use ATMs are also able to use a care-free "internet terminal" package. It is another question whether absolutely everyone should actually get on that "information superhighway" where bandits lurk left and right for your credit card number...