Bush Broadband Goal Gored - US Broadband Penetration Breaks 70% Among Active Internet Users - Broadband Study Highlights Two-Speed Europe

Website Optimization announced today that President Bush's goal of universal broadband access for all Americans by 2007 appears to be overly optimistic, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The GAO study found that only 28% of Americans had broadband in 2005.

Between 42% to 48% of online Americans (active and less active) subscribe to a broadband service, according to surveys by Pew Internet and the GAO. Among active Internet users, US broadband penetration broke 70% for the first time in April 2006. In Europe, slow adoption among new member states has created a two-tier European Union, according to an ECTA survey. While more Americans are going online, Internet usage varies significantly across age groups with nearly three times as many younger Americans online as older Americans.

For the full “May 2006 Bandwidth Report” visit http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0605/

Home Connectivity in the US

US broadband penetration grew to 70.44% in April 2006. Narrowband users connecting at 56Kbps or less now comprise less than 30% of active Internet users (29.56%), down 1.05 percentage points from 30.61% in March (see Figure 3).
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0605/

Broadband Growth Trends in the US

In April 2006, broadband penetration in US homes rose 1.05 percentage points to 70.44% up from 69.39% in March. This increase of 1.05 points is near the average increase in broadband of 1.1 points per month over the last six months (see Figure 4). If US broadband growth follows the pattern of other countries, the rate of penetration growth should decrease after reaching 70%.
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0605/

Work Connectivity

Most Americans in the US enjoy high-speed connections to the Internet at their work. Most of them 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 April 2006, 89.67% of US workers use broadband, up 0.54 percentage points from the 89.13% share in March. At work 10.33% connect at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 5).

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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 May 2006 Bandwidth Report is available at:
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0605/

About Website Optimization

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 and web page conversions

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 monthly Bandwidth Report and the “Speed Tweak of the Week” for www.websiteoptimization.com.

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