Internet Access Makes Its Way Home

Americans are surfing the Web from home in record numbers, but not everyone has the access.

Saumya Roy, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- The Internet has found its way home. Not only are more Americans using the Net than ever before, but record numbers are accessing it from their home computers.

According to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday, 54 percent of Americans were online in September 2001, compared to 33 percent in December 1998. And 43.6 percent of the population accesses the Internet from home or "home and outside", compared with 22 percent in 1998.

The use of broadband has risen dramatically among residential users, even though 80 percent of those who access the Internet from home use a dial-up connection. Nearly 11 percent of Americans had broadband in September 2001, a growth of 116 percent from August 2000, when 4 percent were using broadband.

"Broadband makes people who would not otherwise buy computers, buy them," says Wayne Crews, director of Technology Services at the Cato Institute, a libertarian policy research institute.

Tools for School

As more homes get connected to the Internet, an increasing number of children are using it as an educational tool, the Commerce report says. Almost 90 percent of American children now use the Internet, and e-mail isn't the only application they're after. Many use it for homework and research.

But as the Internet emerges as a crucial educational tool, many in the lower income groups lack Internet access at home--even though the rate of growth in this group has been notable. Internet use in lower-income households grew 25 percent a year between December 1998 and September 2001 compared to an 11 percent growth rate among higher income households.

"We are happy that those who were farthest behind are catching up fastest," says Commerce Secretary Donald Evans.

Public Access

While Internet access at home is spreading, many people are still turning to public Internet access facilities. Minority groups are more likely to use Internet access at public libraries: 19 percent of African-Americans do so, compared with 8.6 percent of whites.

The survey indicates that Internet usage increases as the level of education required for a job increases. More than 80 percent of managerial and professional specialty jobs use the Internet but just 20 percent people in farming, fishing, and forestry use it.

E-mail was the most popular use of the computer at work followed by word processing, desktop publishing, spreadsheets, databases, and calendar scheduling.

Commerce Spokesperson Jim Dyke says the report was released to "put out more information to frame better policy. We need to create the right environment whether it is for broadband or spectrum management, through our policies."