Pew: Home Broadband Still Rules for Key Tasks

Smart phone broadband use is on the rise, but the go-to service for video and doing key online tasks remains in the home.

At 67% of Americans, home broadband adoption in 2015 is down slightly from 70% in 2013 while those who say they are smart phone only for broadband has increased to 13% from 8% in 2013, particularly among African Americans and those with relatively low household incomes.

That is according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

So, on balance, "advanced Internet access" has changed little, with 80% of adults having either phone or home broadband access now compared to 78% in 2013.

“If they have both kinds of access, most people prefer to use their smartphone for getting in touch with family or friends but prefer a device that uses a home broadband connection for watching video," said John Horrigan, a senior researcher at Pew Research Center, in releasing the study. He also said smart phone-only broadband users sometimes have  a hard time doing some of the things they want to do, like applying for a job.

In fact, two-thirds of the respondents said that not having a home high-speed connection would be a major disadvantage to getting a job, health information or other "key" info, up from 56% who said that in a 2010 survey.

The study found that 15% of those polled were cord-cutters, while 9% were cord-nevers. Over two-thirds of those who had cut the cord cited the cost of cable and satellite service as part of the reason. Other factors were using an over-the-air antenna and streaming services.

Of the 33% of Americans who have never had home high-speed Internet, 36% were cord-cutters and 59% never had it. Only 25% said they had an interest in subscribing—or re-subscribing—in the future.

The study was based on a phone survey of 2,001 adults 18 and older. The margin of error for the overall survey was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.