I recently read a newspaper article in which politicians and telecom industry people discussed the failure of the broadband market in the light of the great expectations everyone had a few years back. Then I checked my e-mail in-box and saw the results of our latest reader survey on broadband adoption, which we conducted in November in conjunction with WebSurveyor Corp. It turns out that the vast majority of PC Magazine subscribers now have broadband and are using it more than ever. So either PC Magazine readers are far different from typical Americans, the politicians have missed the broadband revolution, or both. My guess is both.

A year ago, about half of the PC Magazine subscribers we studied said they used broadband. Today, two-thirds of our subscribers report that they use it. 42 percent of you have cable modems, another 21 percent have DSL connections, and 3 percent have other connections faster than dial-up—satellite, ISDN, or fixed-point wireless. Of the folks who have broadband, 42 percent have had it for two years or more, while 26 percent have gotten it in the past year. 23 percent of broadband users have tried out more than one service provider, often because either they moved or their previous providers went out of business. Others switched because they could get more speed or better customer service.

Among those who don't have broadband, 31 percent say it isn't available yet in their area. Of those with access to broadband, 48 percent say it costs too much.

Whether you use a dial-up service or broadband, e-mail is by far the most popular online activity: More than 60 percent of our subscribers say they use e-mail either "a lot" or "all the time." But broadband users are much more likely to spend time doing other things online, from Web surfing and telecommuting to downloading and streaming audio and video.

Still, only a relatively small number of broadband users spend a lot of time downloading or streaming media. I think this indicates that there's plenty of opportunity for richer Web sites and content.

How do you connect to the Internet at home?
Which activities do you do a lot or all the time?
How satisfied are you with your ISP?

Over the past year, the biggest growth was in home networking. Overall, 50 percent of our readers have home networks. Among readers with broadband, however, that number is 66 percent. That's amazing growth: Last year, among broadband users, only 39 percent had home networks. About 40 percent of current home networks are wireless, which is not surprising, as the technology has continued to become more affordable and easier to implement [Read More]