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for Monday, October 27, 2003 - Online news headline linking services are
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| October 2003 Bandwidth
Report - US Broadband Breaks 40% |
| . |
| Overall, broadband
grew by 1.09% in September, with 40% of US home users enjoying a high-speed
connection. 60% of US home users dial into the Internet with "narrowband"
connections of 56Kbps or less. Across the pond, Britains endure phone-line
splitting by major telcos. The charts below, derived from Nielsen//NetRatings,
show trends in connection speeds to the Internet for users in the United
States. |
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The Bandwidth
Report is a monthly roundup of connectivity trends in the US and elsewhere.
Each month's bandwidth report offers the latest statistics in Internet
connectivity and broadband trends, including:
- Home Connectivity in the US
- Broadband Growth in the US
- Work Connectivity
- Broadband Trends in the US, Canada,
and other countries |
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URLwire archives since 1994
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Home Connectivity in the US:
As of September 2003, most users
in the US connect to the Internet using dial-up modems of 56Kbps or less.
49.7% use 56Kbps modems, 7.5% use 28/33.3Kbps, and 2.8% use 14.4Kbps modems.
In total, 60% of home users in the US connect to the Internet at 56Kbps
or less. (See the October
2003 Bandwidth Report – Figure 1)
Broadband Growth in the US:
Broadband penetration in US homes
increased by 1.09% in September. As of September 2003 broadband penetration
was at 40%, up from 38.9% in August. This is higher than the average increase
in broadband of .72% per month from October 1999 to August 2003. Extrapolating
the data provided by Nielsen//NetRatings, broadband share in the US should
exceed 50% by June of 2004. (See Figure
2)
Work Connectivity:
Most workers in the US enjoy high-speed
connections to the Internet. Most use a high-speed line such as a T1 connection,
and share bandwidth between computers connected to an ethernet network.
The speed of each connection decreases as more employees hook up to the
LAN. As of September of 2003, of those connected to the Internet, 72.8%
of US users at work enjoy a high-speed connection, up 0.6% from 72.2% in
August. 27.2% connect from work at 56Kbps or less. (See Figure
3)
British Telecom Splits the Difference
A reader in Britain writes that
the statistics for home users in the UK is further muddied due to British
Telecom's practice of splitting phone lines. Before he switched to broadband,
Garry Heaton suffered from line splitting in the UK when BT connected another
phone within the same building. "Instead of connecting a new line, often
an existing line is 'split' which results in a 56K connection being effectively
capped at 33K. There are many UK dial-up users affected by this, most of
whom are unaware of it and simply experience the Internet slower on their
computer."
"The practice involves the installation
of a DACS box when a new phone connection is requested within a building
which has an existing BT line. The DACS box allows the existing line to
be split, at which point the effective bandwidth is capped at 33Kbps. In
practice this can mean a drop to 28K as available bandwidth isn't always
maximized. Cable users are not affected by the practice."
DACS (Digital Access Carrier System)
converts two analog lines into one digital signal, allowing two customers
to send data through a single phone line. According to Oftel's guidelines
on Internet access, BT and Kingston Communications are required to provide
a telephone connection "capable of functional Internet access" upon reasonable
request. Oftel's guidelines set a benchmark speed of 28.8Kbps for a standard
telephone line.
About The Bandwidth Report:
The Bandwidth Report is a monthly
roundup of connectivity trends in the US and elsewhere. Each month's bandwidth
report offers the latest statistics in Internet connectivity and broadband
trends, including:
- Home Connectivity in the US
- Broadband Growth in the US
- Work Connectivity
- Broadband Trends in the US, Canada,
and other countries
The October 2003 Bandwidth Report
is available at:
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0310/
About WebSiteOptimization.com:
Don't Make Me Wait! The new book
titled "Speed Up Your Site - Web Site Optimization" by Andy King, and the
companion web site are about designing "speedy" web sites with techniques
that...
- Cut file size and download times
in half
- Speed up site load time to satisfy
customers
- Engage users with fast response
times and flow stimulus
- Increase usability, boost profits,
and slash bandwidth costs
- Improve search engine rankings
Andy King is also the founder
of WebReference.com and JavaScript.com,
both award-winning developer sites from internet.com.
Created in 1995 and subsequently acquired by Mecklermedia (now Jupitermedia)
in 1997, WebReference has grown into one of the most popular developer
sites on the Internet. While he was Managing Editor of WebReference.com
and JavaScript.com, Andy became the "Usability Czar" at internet.com, where
he optimized the speed and usability of their sites. In addition to his
consulting work, he continues to write the two weekly newsletters he started
for WebReference.com.
For a review copy of "Speed Up Your
Site - Web Site Optimization" (New Riders, ISBN 0-7357-1324-3) or an interview
with the author, contact: Matt Hockin, 503.246.1375, matt(-at-)interactivemarketinginc.com
- http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com/
When
email addresses are used in URLwire stories, I have replaced the
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