A variety of signs show that fewer people are choosing to jump into the supercharged speed of Broadband internet services from the snail-like speed of dial up.
Most likely,they are trying to be fiscally practical in uncertain economic times and who could blame them?
According to a Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project survey published in July of 2008, 9% of Americans are still using dial up. And 35% of that 9% said they wouldn't switch to Broadband unless the prices dropped. Just what is the difference here between dial up and its speedier cousin? According to figures published by Pew Broadband users reported an average monthly bill of $34.50 in April 2008 while dial up users reported monthly bills of $19.70. The math is simple -- $414 for quick and easy YouTube video-watching vs. $236.40 for frustrating YouTube video-watching.
But when cost is a problem, waiting for your YouTube video to buffer, play, and entertain you may not be an issue. The Pew studies also reported that 29% of dial up users live in households with annual incomes below $30,000 compared to 14 percent of broadband users in that income range.
Further evidence of dial up's attraction are some recent promotions, offering temptingly low monthly connection fees.
Mark Goldston, Chairman and CEO of NetZero
(and Juno
,
both of which are owned by United Online) said in a recent commercial, "It comes down to the need for speed or the need to save." If families switch to NetZero's $9.95-per-month dial-up service
,
Goldston said they could save $300 a year. Another promotion pitted NetZero against AOL, urging AOL users to move over to NetZero's Internet service with their AOL email address in tow to save nearly $200 a year in fees. It is reported that United Online's fourth quarter of 2008 showed that the percentage of customers abandoning its dial up services dropped to a record low of 4.3%.
EarthLink also offers a dial up service starting at $9.95 per month that goes to $21.95 three months after. There are some others but the small-print details of their offers may render them less attractive, but still cheaper than paying for high speed and for some, that’s all that matters, at least until the economy picks up.
