Three of Four U.S. Homes Have Broadband

Almost three in four Web users in the United States connected at home via broadband in May, a market research firm said.

The number of broadband-connected homes increased 15 percent over the same month a year ago, when 57 percent of U.S. homes had high-speed connections, Nielsen/NetRatings said.

"Although we are not seeing the explosive month-over-month growth we once were, the market for broadband Internet connection has not yet reached saturation," Jon Gibs, senior director of media for Nielsen, said in a statement. "We're past the point where decreasing prices and increasing availability will move the needle for providers; the remaining consumers will be pushed to broadband as the Internet continues to move beyond text-based information to a comprehensive source for video."

The total number of home broadband users grew 30 percent to 102.5 million in May from 78.6 million a year ago, Nielsen said. The number of narrowband users, meanwhile, fell by 31 percent to 40.3 million from 58.8 million.

Not surprisingly, broadband users were more likely to be early adopters of Internet technologies. For example, they were three times more likely to use RSS to receive content, and more than twice as likely to publish a blog or build a personal Web page, Nielsen said.