The inexorable logic of broadband is working its way through the populace:
- After a quarter marked by DSL price cuts and cable speed boosts, one thing is clear: Broadband use is surging, regardless of what form it takes.
Recently released numbers from cable companies and from the Baby Bells who provide digital subscriber line access make it plain the companies are watching their broadband Net businesses flourish.
It's unclear whether aggressive price cuts by DSL providers are eating into cable's market-share lead, or whether cable's doubling of its download speed has effectively countered the price cuts. But both sides know the fight for the remaining 80 percent of U.S. homes without broadband will intensify this quarter.
"The war between cable and DSL continues to rage on for sure," said Daryl Schoolar, an analyst at In-Stat/MDR.
On Thursday, industry bellwether Comcast, the nation's largest cable network, said it added 472,000 new broadband subscribers for the quarter ended Sept. 30, a 39 percent increase from the same period last year. Comcast now has 4.9 million broadband subscribers and expects to end the year at 5.3 million, the company said.
Comcast's results come after other cable companies reported strong gains in their broadband businesses. [CNET]
Article comments
1 - Michelle
Though I have the impression in my country, Germany, things are getting more difficult concerning DSL instead. I'm on a connection that has no limits - no datatransfer and time limit. A real flatrate.
But there are many companies that only offer limited rates - 2 GB datatransfer per month or more, which is ridiculous, because I use 2 GB per day at times. I'd really have to limit myself to live with 2 GB per month.
I have the impression the development of broadband connections stagnates in Germany because of these limits you even have to pay much money for.
But it's maybe because the Deutsche Telekom still has somewhat of a monopoly here. Other companies have a hard time being a competition to them.
2 - jadester
it's worse in britain, i can tell you now. For a start, coverage of ADSL is...limited (even more so than cable) as BT takes the rather stupid approach of only upgrading some exchanges when a certain number of people have registered as "interested" to have ADSL. I call this stypid because, if people know that ADSL isn't available in their area they're probably going to look at alternatives rather than wait. Cable is pretty cheap and generally ok (well ntl is) altho even then coverage is by no means complete. They also have "official unofficial" limits (both BT and ntl and probably others) on usage - i.e. it is official but hidden away and you only are made fully aware if they think you are overusing your connection, in which case the most common course of action they take is to terminate it without warning.
3 - John Mudd
When companies marketing broadband bring the prices down to where dial-up currently is for the major services (i.e., AOL, MSN, EarthLink, etc.), the result will be the same as when AOL and other large Internet companies launched a flat-rate plan. Everyone, including myself (I use a $6.95 a month dial-up company - it works for me because I primarily use the Web for blogging, updating my website, e-mailing clients or sending them properties to look at) will get DSL or cable.
For me, the benefits just don't outweigh the cost at the moment. Broadband's a luxury item that's great if you use the Web for entertainment, or if you have a wireless home entertainment network, but it's really not necessary, yet, for business use of the 'net. It's really not necessary for personal use, either, yet, but it will be as computer-run home entertainment centers become more common. Then wireless broadband will become incredibly popular.
Time for me to go. I hear the outhouse calling my name. ;)
Cheers.
4 - Eric Olsen
nothing worse than a cheerful Luddite
5 - Hal Pawluk
Good stuff. The SBC/Yahoo rate of $27 is the best I've seen (I'm paying $30 with Charter Cable).
Can anyone here provide a link to hard data on how many Internet connections there are now, and how many of those are broadband?
I'm not looking for the Nielsen numbers of people "with access to the Net," but rather # of accounts. I know a lot of 3 and 4 person households with Internet access. Nielsen counts all 4, but usually only 1 or 2 are actual surfers (higher numbers make a better case for selling advertising).
Last time I looked there were about 65 million households and 18 million (and climbing) broadbanders.
TIA.