• by November 28, 2000

Harris Interactive today released the results of a new survey of more than 69,000 web users that measured the perceptions of both current broadband users and those planning (planners) to move to broadband DSL and cable modem connections.

And the findings spell good news for anyone dreaming of someday streaming audio and video ads and other enriched formats to the entire Internet audience.

The study estimated that approximately 38.9 million US households connect to the Internet, and about 3.6 million US households connect using a high-speed connection (cable modem, DSL, ISDN or satellite data service). Most of the high-speed users use either a cable modem (2.35M) or DSL(0.85M). The results show that there is high interest in high-speed Internet connections among current users. About one-in-eight of the households who connect to the Internet said that they planned to start using either DSL or cable modem service within the following six months. According to the results, both DSL and cable modem users are happy with their connections. About 85% are satisfied with the reliability of their broadband connection, and about 90% are satisfied with the speed of downloading pages and files.

With numbers like these, streaming media may not be far from wide acceptance. But, as Harris' Director of Technology Research David Tremblay said, "What's holding back broadband service providers isn't a lack of demand for broadband services. The business is there to be had if service providers can get their provisioning acts together."