Home » Bandwidth Report » US Broadband Penetration Breaks 30% in December – February 2003 Bandwidth Report

US Broadband Penetration Breaks 30% in December – February 2003 Bandwidth Report

How fast are most connection speeds in the US? For our first Bandwidth Report we track broadband uptake in the US and find over 67% using 56Kbps dialup connections or slower.


The following charts, derived from Nielsen//NetRatings data, show trends in connection speeds to the Internet.

Home Connectivity

As of January 2003, most users connected to the Internet use dial-up modems of 56Kbps or less. 55.1% use 56Kbps modems, 9.7% use 28/33.3Kbps, and 2.7% use 14.4Kbps modems. All told 67.5% of home users in the US connect to the Internet at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 1).

Web Connection Speed Trends – Home Users (US)

Web Connection Speed Trends - U.S. home users

Figure 1: Web Connection Speed Trends – Home Users (US)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

Broadband Growth

Broadband use in US homes broke 30% for the first time in December of 2002 (31.1%). As of January of 2003 broadband penetration was at 32.6%.
Extrapolating the data provided by Nielsen//NetRatings, broadband share in the US should exceed 50% by July of 2004 (see Figure 2).

Broadband Connection Speed Trend – Home Users (US)

Broadband Connection Speed Trend - U.S. home users

Figure 2: Broadband Connection Speed Trend – Home Users (US)
Extrapolated from Nielsen//NetRatings data

Work Connectivity

Most workers in the US enjoy high-speed connections to the Internet. Most use a high-speed line such as a T1 connection, and share bandwidth between computers connected to a network. The speed of each connection decreases as more employees hook up to the LAN. As of January of 2003, of those connected to the Internet, 67.4% of US users at work enjoy a high-speed connection. 32.6% connect from work at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 3).

Web Connection Speed Trends – Work Users (US)

Web Connection Speed Trends - U.S. work users

Figure 3: Web Connection Speed Trends – Work Users (US)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings