Americans online faster, more often
A report out today says more than half of us are using broadband to surf the Web — and those high-speed Internet connections are changing our relationship with the computer. Brian Watt reports.
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SCOTT JAGOW: A study out today says more than three-quarters of Americans now use the Internet, and more than half them get there with a high-speed connection. Brian Watt has more.
BRIAN WATT: USC’s Center for the Digital Future has been tracking who goes online and how for the last six years.
Director Jeffrey Cole says cable modems and DSL have changed everything, even a computer’s location in the home.
The 37 percent of us who still use dial up connections are likely to keep the computer in the bedroom or a back office and only log on once or twice a day.
JEFFREY COLE: And with broadband, you’re on 30, 40, 50 times a day and you want the Internet center stage. You want it in the kitchen. You want it in the family room. You want it where you are because you’re going on so many times for two minutes at a time.
Cole says this changes the way the Internet competes with the television. Going online is now something you can do quickly while the commercials are on.
I’m Brian Watt for Marketplace.