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Broadband access at home jumped 148 percent in the United States between December 1999 and 2000, according to the latest numbers from Nielsen Media Research.
While the number of pokey 14.4 kilobits per second and 28.8k modem connections dropped by 20.4 percent and 27.3 percent respectively, the faster speeds saw increases. As of December 2000, Nielsen estimates, 11.7 million homes had an ISDN, LAN, cable modem or digital subscriber line link, compared to just 4.7 million in December 1999. But those with 56k modem links still led the way and also saw a healthy increase, up 87.7 percent from 30.9 million in December 1999 to almost 57.9 million by the end of 2000.
Though the broadband numbers are a healthy increase, what may be even more significant is the change in audience, according to Nielsen senior analyst Jarvis Mak. In particular, females are getting high-speed access at a faster clip than male early adopters.
"The demographics shifted from an early adopter look of males age 25 to 34 to a more mainstream audience," Mak says. "More and more people have access to it and it's more and more everyday."
While 56k may dominate, that hold may slip in 2001. Mak predicts the 56k access boom in 2000 will cool in 2001, as many free narrowband ISPs continue to fail or reform as a pay service. And many of the ISP access deals with major computer makers will also come to an end as companies struggle to make a profit rather than just make a sale.
"They are stopping a lot of that to cut their losses," Mak says of the computer deals. "With the lack of those promotions and free venture capital money floating around for the dot-coms drying up, I think the uptake won't be that quick."
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