TABLE 1.6
| Adults with Internet access, by region, 2002 | |
| Some 59% of American adults had Internet access at the end of 2002, up from about 50% in 2000. The use of the Internet by Americans over age 18 varies by region, however, as Shown below. | |
| Region | Adults with Internet access Region in December 2002 (%) |
| SOURCE: Tom Spooner, Peter Meredith, and Lee Rainie, "Internet Penetration by U.S. Region," in Internet Use by Region in the United States, Pew Internet and American Life Project, August 27, 2003, http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Regional_Report_Aug_2003.pdf (accessed October 25, 2004). Used by permission of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which bears no responsibility for the interpretations presented or conclusions reached based on analysis of the data. | |
| New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island) | 66% |
| Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) | 58 |
| National Capital (Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC) | 64 |
| Southeast (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina) | 57 |
| South (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia) | 48 |
| Industrial Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio) | 56 |
| Upper Midwest (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin) | 59 |
| Lower Midwest (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma) | 55 |
| Border states (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) | 60 |
| Mountain states (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming) | 64 |
| Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington) | 68 |
| California | 65 |
John Horrigan reported that forty-eight million people had high-speed broadband connections at home and sixty-eight million had access at home or on the job. The number of people with broadband Internet connections represented 55% of all Internet users and 34% of the American population. Figure 1.6 shows that in June 2000 only a little more than five million people had broadband; by March 2004 forty-eight million adults had broadband connections at home.
When broadband first became available, its early users tended to be those who had been online for more than three years, and those whom the Pew Internet & American Life Project dubbed as the "Young Tech Elite." These were people thirty-five and under with good incomes, college degrees, and the latest gadgets and information services. By 2004, however, people were adopting broadband faster, and they were not all necessarily part of the "Young Tech Elite." Relatively inexpensive DSL services that hook up right into the phone lines are making high-speed Internet more affordable for all. At the rate with which broadband subscriptions are rising, dial-up lines may soon be a thing of the past.
Another Internet trend that is picking up momentum in the first decade of the twenty-first century is the use of wireless connections. For many, the Internet has become an essential part of everyday life, and people increasingly
TABLE 1.7
| Households with computers and Internet access, 1998 and 2001 | ||||
| [In percent. Based on survey and subject to sampling error.] | ||||
| SOURCE: "No. 1159. Households with Computers and Internet Access: 1998 and 2001," in Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003, U.S. Census Bureau, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Spring 2003, http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/03statab/inforcomm.pdf (accessed October 25, 2004) | ||||
| 1998 | 2001 | |||
| State | Computers | Internet access | Computers | Internet access |
| U.S. | 42.1 | 26.2 | 56.5 | 50.5 |
| AL | 34.3 | 21.6 | 43.7 | 37.6 |
| AK | 62.4 | 44.1 | 68.7 | 64.1 |
| AZ | 44.3 | 29.3 | 59.4 | 51.9 |
| AR | 29.8 | 14.7 | 46.8 | 36.9 |
| CA | 47.5 | 30.7 | 61.5 | 55.3 |
| CO | 55.3 | 34.5 | 64.7 | 58.5 |
| CT | 43.8 | 31.8 | 58.7 | 55.0 |
| DE | 40.5 | 25.1 | 58.4 | 52.5 |
| DC | 41.4 | 24.2 | 49.3 | 41.4 |
| FL | 39.5 | 27.8 | 55.9 | 52.8 |
| GA | 35.8 | 23.9 | 52.4 | 46.7 |
| HI | 42.3 | 27.9 | 63.1 | 55.2 |
| ID | 50.0 | 27.4 | 62.8 | 52.7 |
| IL | 42.7 | 26.5 | 53.0 | 46.9 |
| IN | 43.5 | 26.1 | 53.2 | 47.3 |
| IA | 41.4 | 21.8 | 59.4 | 51.0 |
| KS | 43.7 | 25.7 | 57.5 | 50.9 |
| KY | 35.9 | 21.1 | 49.8 | 44.2 |
| LA | 31.1 | 17.8 | 45.7 | 40.2 |
| ME | 43.4 | 26.0 | 62.8 | 53.3 |
| MD | 46.3 | 31.0 | 64.1 | 57.8 |
| MA | 43.4 | 28.1 | 59.1 | 54.7 |
| MI | 44.0 | 25.4 | 58.3 | 51.2 |
| MN | 47.6 | 29.0 | 64.6 | 55.6 |
| MS | 25.7 | 13.6 | 41.9 | 36.1 |
| MO | 41.8 | 24.3 | 55.3 | 49.9 |
| MT | 40.9 | 21.5 | 56.0 | 47.5 |
| NE | 42.9 | 22.9 | 55.6 | 45.5 |
| NV | 41.6 | 26.5 | 58.2 | 52.5 |
| NH | 54.2 | 37.1 | 55.0 | 50.2 |
| NJ | 48.1 | 31.3 | 61.2 | 57.2 |
| NM | 42.2 | 25.8 | 67.7 | 61.6 |
| NY | 37.3 | 23.7 | 50.6 | 43.1 |
| NC | 35.0 | 19.9 | 50.1 | 44.5 |
| ND | 40.2 | 20.6 | 53.0 | 46.5 |
| OH | 40.7 | 24.6 | 57.6 | 50.9 |
| OK | 37.8 | 20.4 | 49.9 | 43.8 |
| OR | 51.3 | 32.7 | 65.8 | 58.2 |
| PA | 39.3 | 24.9 | 53.5 | 48.7 |
| RI | 41.0 | 27.1 | 58.6 | 53.1 |
| SC | 35.7 | 21.4 | 52.2 | 45.0 |
| SD | 41.6 | 23.9 | 55.3 | 47.6 |
| TN | 37.5 | 21.3 | 51.3 | 44.8 |
| TX | 40.9 | 24.5 | 53.7 | 47.7 |
| UT | 60.1 | 35.8 | 67.7 | 54.1 |
| VT | 48.7 | 31.8 | 60.4 | 53.4 |
| VA | 46.4 | 27.9 | 58.8 | 54.9 |
| WA | 56.3 | 36.6 | 66.5 | 60.4 |
| WV | 28.3 | 17.6 | 48.0 | 40.7 |
| WI | 43.0 | 25.1 | 56.4 | 50.2 |
| WY | 46.1 | 22.7 | 58.1 | 51.0 |
want to be able to log on to the Internet from any location, in private or public spaces. It is therefore not surprising that more Americans are turning to wireless technologies. According to a May 2004 Pew/Internet memo by Horrigan, at that time nearly 28% of American adults were using either laptop computers with wireless modems or cell phones that enabled them to surf the Web or check e-mail.
FIGURE 1.6
Nearly 18% of Internet users in the United States said they have used a wireless laptop to access the Internet, and 10% said they go online from a location other than home. The number of wireless hotspots has been on the rise as well. Statistics published by Gartner Inc. on the Web (www.dataquest.com) revealed that the number of wireless local area networks grew from 1,200 globally to more than 151,000 between 2001 and 2005.
Despite these numbers, however, wireless access to the Internet outside of the house is typically slow or spotty due to the limited 150 to 300 foot range of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) hotspots and the slow speed of dial-up modems. Several emerging technologies may allow people to access high-speed Internet on their laptops wherever they go. According to Anil Ananthaswamy in "Broadband Web Link Goes Wireless" (New Scientist, April 17, 2004), several large companies, including Intel and AT&T, are promoting a new technology that will enable a laptop to connect wirelessly to a base station over twenty miles away. The technology, called Wi-MAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), uses base station transmitters much like those in a mobile phone network. Any laptop computer equipped with a Wi-MAX receiver should be able to instantly log on to one of these stations and receive high-speed Internet access from miles away. With enough transmitters in place, logging on anywhere in a city with high-speed access may soon be as easy as it is at home. Another technology closer to market is the third generation (3G) cell phone service. This service will allow cell phones to receive and send signals that contain as much information as a broadband Internet connection. With a 3G modem equipped to a computer, people may soon be able to get high-speed access for the Internet through the cellular network.
In the long term, however, the future of the Internet will likely be the Internet2. Internet2 is not a new Internet, but a collaboration of dozens of academic institutions and corporations working together to develop technologies that will be integrated into the Internet and allow it to move forward. One project the consortium is working on is version six of the Internet Protocol (IPv6). The number of computers, cell phones, and other devices using the Internet has grown exponentially in recent years. Each time one of these devices logs onto the Internet, it requires its own address. Right now the current Internet protocol only allows for a little over four billion addresses, which will soon be insufficient to accommodate all users. Ipv6 introduces a new Internet address system that will allow for trillions upon trillions of new addresses. The Internet2 has also had a hand in setting up and creating technologies to be used on Abilene. Abilene is a new high-performance backbone network laid down by Qwest Communications, which connects a number of universities and government installations. The fiber optic cables in this backbone can carry information at a rate of 10 gigabytes per second. Internet2 is designing networks, software, and hardware that can utilize Abeline with the idea that one day this will be the standard. With such a network, the Internet will likely have no speed limits. Americans should be able to watch high definition television via the Internet, teleconference with friends and family at any time, and easily access entire libraries of music and books online.
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