Pew: Fewer people using home broadband because it’s costly

Pew said that 33 percent of those surveyed that did not have broadband connection cited that the monthly cost of traditional wireline broadband service is why they did not have service at home. Some said the main barrier was the cost of having computers beyond the mobile devices they already own. “There’s a cost issue with certain demographics; they’ll just use their smartphone to get on the Internet, even if it’s slower”.

The biggest declines in broadband adoption were among lower- to middle-income homes, rural homes, minority homes – with African Americans seeing a decline of 8% and Hispanics 6% – and among parents of children under the age of 18. Further, past Pew Research Center findings have shown that people who only have a smartphone for online access are more likely than other users to hit data-cap limits or to have to cancel or suspend service due to financial constraints. “At the same time, many “smartphone only” users sometimes struggle to do some of the things they want to do online”.

The 80% in a new Pew Research survey out Monday is up from 78 two years ago…

The number using broadband has dropped from 70 to 67%… “Some consumers, if they had to choose between a smartphone data plan and a broadband plan, are opting for the smartphone”.

That plateau in home broadband use comes as the Obama administration has pushed for greater broadband access and criticized the lack of competition among home Internet providers.

In the Philadelphia region, Verizon Communications provides both high-speed wireline Internet access through its FiOS service and smartphone Internet access through its wireless division. Some 15 per cent of adults now qualify as “cord cutters” – meaning they once had either cable or satellite TV but no longer do. In 2010 and 2015, Pew Research Center asked Americans whether they thought being without a home broadband connection was a major disadvantage in several different topical areas. Another 16 per cent of young adults say they have never had pay TV in the first place. Two-thirds (64%) said they cut the cord because they can get their desired programming with an over-air antenna, on the Net or on a streaming video service.

Among those who don’t have broadband, Pew notes that 36% had a subscription in the past, while 59% say they’ve never had a home broadband connection.

All of the top telcos continue to bleed bleed broadband subscribers.

Analysis of change in broadband and “smartphone-only” adoption from 2013 to 2015 are based on a September 2013 survey of 6,010 adults, ages 18 years and older, and combined surveys from April 2015 (1,934 adults); July 2015 (2,001 adults); and November 2015 (2,752 adults), for a total of 6,687 adult respondents.

• 40 percent of non-adopters who have had service in the past or are interested in subscribing in the future, say the monthly cost of a subscription is the most important reason they lack service now.