Report: Broadband Finally Passes Dial-Up

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September 20, 2006 (3:06 PM EDT)

By W. David Gardner , TechWeb Technology News

Driven largely by the bundling of services, high-speed broadband has finally overtaken dial-up in Internet access, accounting for a 56 percent share of residential ISP customers, according to a report released Wednesday by J. D. Power and Associates.

The customer market research firm noted that high-speed services had surged even though they are priced much higher than dial-up. Power and Associates said the average price subscribers pay for high-speed access is $42.13 a month versus $18.45 for dial-up.

"Although high-speed Internet is still considerably more expensive than dial-up, bundling high-speed with other products, such as telephone and video service, has made it an increasingly attractive option," Steve Kirkeby, executive director of telecommunications and technology research at Power and Associates, said according to a press release.

Kirkeby also noted that dial-up's 44 percent market share still represents a significant piece of the Internet access market.

For high-speed access, the preference study listed WideOpenWest (WOW!) with the most satisfied customers followed by Bright House Network's Road Runner and, in third place, BellSouth. Also placing high in the rankings were EathlLink, Verizon, Cox, and Qwest. Occupying positions in the bottom of the survey were RCN, Mediacom and Comcast.

PeoplePC was the highest-ranked national provider of dial-up, according to the market research firm. Other dial-up providers, in order of satisfaction, were: BellSouth, EarthLink, MSN, Netscape, United Online, AOL, and AT&T Yahoo.