Pew Research: Broadband Adoption Slows Considerably

Link to August 11 Pew Internet & American Life summary report, "Broadband 2010: A Big Slowdown".

Excerpt: After several consecutive years of modest but consistent growth, broadband adoption slowed dramatically in 2010. Two-thirds of American adults (66%) currently use a high-speed internet connection at home, a figure that is not statistically different from what the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found at a similar point in 2009, when 63% of Americans were broadband adopters.

The lack of growth in broadband adoption at the national level was mirrored across a range of demographic groups, with African Americans being a major exception. Broadband adoption by African Americans now stands at 56%, up from 46% at a similar point in 2009.

Retiring Guy found the responses to the following question particularly interesting:

In this survey, Americans were asked: "Do you think that expanding affordable high-speed internet access to everyone in the country should be a top priority for the federal government, important but a lower priority, not too important, or should it not be done?" The majority chose the last two options:

■26% of Americans say that expansion of affordable broadband access should not be attempted by government.
■27% said it was "not too important" a priority.
■30% said it was an important priority.
■11% said it should be a top priority.
Those who are not currently online are especially resistant to government efforts to expand broadband access.

One more item:

A fifth of American adults (21%) do not use the internet. Many non-users think online content is not relevant to their lives and they are not confident they could use computers and navigate the web on their own.

The full report is here.