Internet Households in the U.S.

The vast majority of U.S. households that are not online have no interest in the Web. A survey of 1,000 U.S. homes showed that about 36 percent of U.S. households were not online and only 2 percent intended to subscribe to an Internet service this year. The percent of households without Web access extrapolated to 39 million homes.

Cost was a factor in only 4 percent of the households not connected to the Web. Thirty-one percent said they didn't need it because they had access to the Internet at work, 18 percent said they weren't interested in anything on the Web and 8 percent said they weren't sure how to use the Web. Based on the survey, the research firm projects only a 1 percent increase in overall Internet penetration this year to 64 percent of U.S. households.

In other findings, 42 percent of U.S. households currently have dial-up connections and 4 percent plan to upgrade this year. Eighteen percent of those households, however, said they do not intend to upgrade.

Rural America Internet Services

The use of high-speed Internet services is growing fast in rural America, partly closing the gap between country and city, a survey shows. The project surveyed 5,262 U.S. adults in September and December last year. The margin of sampling error was 3 percentage points in either direction.

Last fall, 24 percent of rural Americans had broadband Internet access at home, more than double the 9 percent rate reported in 2003, according to a survey released Sunday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. By comparison, 39 percent of urban and suburban dwellers had broadband last fall, up from 22 percent in 2003. The main reason for lower rural broadband adoption appears to be availability, the study said. But Pew also noted that country dwellers are on average older, less educated and poorer than urbanites and suburbanites, factors that are associated with lower levels of Internet use.

However, rural Americans who have broadband Internet are almost as likely as others to use it on a given day. Adding in people who use dial-up or access the Internet only at work, 62 percent of country dwellers use the Internet, compared with 70 percent elsewhere. Rural Internet users are slightly more likely than others to participate in online education and to download games, and less likely to bank online or buy travel tickets.