Recession-Proof: U.S. Home Broadband Adoption Up 15 Percent

The economy is in recession and consumers are watching their wallets, but everyone's clinging to their Internet connections. That's the word from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which in a report released Wednesday said a survey of the portion of adult Americans with broadband access at home is up 15 percent from a year earlier.

Overall, the number of adults in the United States who have broadband access in their homes is 63 percent, according to Pew. The study's data, which Pew presented Wednesday at the Internet Innovation Alliance's National Broadband Strategy Symposium, comes from interviews Pew did with nearly 3,000 adult Americans from March 26 to April 19, 2009, and compared with interviews conducted from April 8 to May 11, 2008.

The rate of broadband adoption among U.S. adults is increasing even as Internet connections become more expensive, Pew noted. In May 2008, consumers reported paying $34.50 a month, on average, for broadband. A year later, the average rate is $39, according to Pew's data.

"For many Americans, a home broadband connection is a conduit for connecting to community and economic opportunity," said Pew study author John Horrigan in a statement. "That puts broadband in the 'must-keep' category for most users, even when economic times are tough."

Expanding broadband access in the U.S. is a major priority of the Obama administration, which earmarked $7.2 billion in the federal stimulus, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to develop a national broadband strategy. Broadband is one of the key public sector plays for solution providers and system integrators going after opportunities presented by ARRA.

The growth rates for broadband adoption were even higher among specific demographics than the 15 percent increase in the national average, according to Pew.

Broadband usage among senior citizens (defined as adults older than 65) is at 30 percent in 2009, up from 19 percent a year ago. Forty-six percent of Americans living in rural areas now have home broadband, up from 38 percent a year ago. And broadband use among low-income Americans (defined as households with an annual income of less than $20,000) is up 10 percent.

Additional Pew research showed adult Americans were more willing to give up other services before broadband Internet connections. According to Pew, 22 percent of respondents said they canceled cable television in the past year and another 22 percent said they canceled or changed their cellular phone service.

Pew's research also suggested that about seven percent of adult Americans are still using a dial-up Internet connection for home use, and 21 percent of adult Americans did not use the Internet at home. When asked by Pew researchers what it would take for dial-up users to finally make the leap to broadband, most respondents indicated that prices were still too high, according to Pew.