Broadband Shopping US Style

Americans are sold on the Internet, but they are still determined to shop around for the right price for broadband.
March 29, 2006

Americans are sold on the Internet, but they are still determined to shop around for the right price for broadband.



That has allowed DSL, the less expensive option, to close the gap on cable modem service.



Almost 10 million American homes signed up for broadband service in 2005, according to a report released on Wednesday by Leichtman Research. The 9.6 million added subscribers are 1 million more than the previous single-year record set in 2004.



DSL, a service carried over phone lines, accounted for all of the year-to-year increase from 2004. More Americans opted for the generally less expensive DSL than cable broadband service, reducing the once-extensive lead of cable broadband service providers to little more than a sliver.



DSL service providers added more than 5.2 million broadband subscribers in 2005, a million-subscriber improvement over 2004. Cable operators added about 4.4 million broadband subscribers in 2005, almost the same number as in 2004.

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