Why Dial-Up Just Won't Die

As home high-speed Internet access goes mainstream — broadband comprises 59% of today's US online market, compared with 28% in 2002 — those consumers who don't have a high-speed connection at home are beginning to resemble the stereotypical late adopter. Cost remains the biggest hurdle to adoption for these consumers — the broadband have-nots — but pricing, like the value of the service itself, is often misunderstood. Marketers that take a closer look at the have-nots will find a persistent market for dial-up: The low-income technology pessimists — who comprise more than one-quarter of broadband have-nots — are particularly ignorant of the value of high-speed.