A new report from Statistics New Zealand shows that dial-up Internet is dying out in this country. The primary reasons for not going with broadband are cost and although not specified in the report, probably availability:
More than a million New Zealand homes used broadband to connect to the Internet in 2009, double the number from three years ago, Statistics New Zealand said today. While rural homes were less likely to have a broadband connection than those in urban areas, the gap is closing. In 2009, 1 in 2 rural homes had broadband, compared with 1 in 5 in 2006, according to the three-yearly Household Use of Information and Communication Technology Survey.
The survey showed that of the total population:
- 80 percent of people used the Internet, up from 69 percent in 2006
- 72 percent sent or received emails, up from 62 percent in 2006
- 43 percent made an online purchase, up from 29 percent in 2006
- 37 percent used the Internet for social networking.
… In 2009, only 12 percent of New Zealand homes used a dial-up connection. Fifty percent of these cited the cost of broadband as their main reason for remaining on dial-up, the same proportion as in 2006.
[Via : Household Use of Information and Communication Technology: 2009 - Statistics New Zealand.]
Other information available on the Statistics NZ website show that as of today (17 April 2010) New Zealand’s total population is 4,364,274. At the 2006 census it seems there were about 1.5 million Private Occupied Dwellings.
Broadband changes the way we use the Internet, and opens up all kinds of things that just aren’t possible on dial-up. The ‘always on’ nature of broadband means we can quickly and easily find and share information, or connect with others.
The next step, of course, is ‘everywhere on’ broadband — the kind of thing that smartphones give us. Being able to look up and share information and connections wherever we are changes the world again.
Last week I was visiting a friend in Christchurch. Until my visit she used dial-up, though with a new computer in the house she had also signed up for broadband.
It hadn’t been installed before my visit though, and I found inconvenient to not have quick and ready access to my emails and web pages from my laptop.
I used my iPhone in tethering mode a few times, but it’s not as speedy as broadband, and I was a little anxious about exceeding my data package. (I’d forgotten it’s been boosted from 250Mb to 3Gb for a while.)
Broadband to the home changes life in the way that indoor plumbing changed life. It’s good to see we Kiwis are adopting it speedily.
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