# How Many in USA Still Use Dial-up Internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462 "2012-02-20T21:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/21 "2012-02-21T03:39:44Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > Ultra fast? 30 MBPS is the fastest available in my area. My service is 15 MBPS. > > I have a smartphone and get about 5 MBPS over my cellular network. I got this phone a little over a year ago because I was gonna cancel my DSL broadband and just tether my phone to my laptop when at home. 5MBPS would have been fine for my needs and I was gonna save some money getting rid of DSL. > > But then my cell co. capped data at 5GB per month even though I pay $30.00 per month for “unlimited”. So now i’ve got an unlimited data contract that uses only a few hundred MB per month because at home the smartphone is connected through my wireless DSL connection. :rolleyes: I’m stuck paying 30.00 per month to occasionally use Maps or look something up on Google when away from home. It’s useful occasionally but not $30.00 per month useful. > > Between the 2, I pay about $65.00 per month. I’ve read that in places like Hong Kong or Singapore, they have 100MBPS service for the equivalent of $25-$30 per month. Must be nice. I shake my head in wonder over people like you. For your information, 30Mbps is, in fact, ultra fast. I have “only” 1.5Mbps, and I can watch Hulu and Netflix just fine. Most people don’t understand that internet companies just aren’t going to lay fiber-optic over hundreds of miles of near-empty land out of the goodness of their hearts. They have to expect to make a profit from it, or they won’t do it. As a matter of fact, it’s been just within the last decade that the last few places in America got **plain old PHONE service!** [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17999026](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17999026) [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-01-20-no-phones\_x.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-01-20-no-phones_x.htm) ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/22 "2012-02-21T03:55:14Z")
[http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/10-Home-Broadband-Adoption-2009/5-Barriers-to-broadband-adoption/2-How-many-dialup-users-want-broadband.aspx](http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/10-Home-Broadband-Adoption-2009/5-Barriers-to-broadband-adoption/2-How-many-dialup-users-want-broadband.aspx) 9% as of 2009 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/23 "2012-02-21T03:58:58Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > I suppose that’s partly the issue. But you would still expect places like New York City to be comparable to Hong Kong or Singapore, and it’s not. I wonder why? Competitive markets? Lack of singular infrastructure? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/24 "2012-02-21T07:42:27Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I wonder why? Competitive markets? Lack of singular infrastructure? Lack of sane, consumer-oriented regulation. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/25 "2012-02-21T09:59:17Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Isn’t the issue, much like light rail, a matter of distance and cost? Many of these Asian nations that have unbelievable internet speeds are largely urban due to a huge person per square mile ratio. America outside of its urban centers is very spread out. It would cost a LOT for a company to run fiber optic out to every Farmer John in states like Nebraska in the middle of nowhere. And yet Norway, with a population density not that much higher than Nebraska, and great honking hunks of granite in between those little clumps of houses that barely qualify as “villages”, has better broadband and cellular coverage than the average of the whole United States. Distance alone isn’t the only problem. National priorities also play a role. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/26 "2012-02-21T10:36:47Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Lack of sane, consumer-oriented regulation. I don’t really think regulation would make companies invest in better infrastructure. I think something more like incentives would make more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/27 "2012-02-21T13:15:23Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > For your information, 30Mbps is, in fact, ultra fast. I have “only” 1.5Mbps, and I can watch Hulu and Netflix just fine. SpeedTest indicates that my 8 Mb/s ADSL service peaks around 6 Mb/s, and it sucks compared to my Comcast service at my USA house. I can’t steam Netflix without constant buffering, and the Slingbox stutters all the time (gosh, how I wish it would just buffer). Then if I want to receive torrents, it takes days. If I want to do all of this through a VPN, my speed is cut in half again. I very happily pay $70 a month for Comcast in Michigan. My crappy connection here in China isn’t at all worth the $25 USD equivalent that I pay. Rumor is we’re getting fiber in the neighborhood, though. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/28 "2012-02-21T18:04:23Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Most people don’t understand that internet companies just aren’t going to lay fiber-optic over hundreds of miles of near-empty land out of the goodness of their hearts. You’re right.I didnt understand. Thanks for enlightening me. :rolleyes: But anyways, I dont live in the middle of " hundreds of miles of near-empty land". ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/29 "2012-02-21T18:20:54Z")
> [@KneeSid](#): > > For instance, both Comcast cable and AT&T DSL include dial up numbers in case your broadband goes out. Comcast user here for 5+ years. Comcast does not have any dialup service. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/30 "2012-02-22T20:50:17Z")
My internet comes to 47.75 Mbps (according to SpeedTest), and I’m on the edge of nowhere (Santa Barbara, CA). So, it appears there is a lot of variation in these numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/31 "2012-02-22T21:14:00Z")
> [@Harmonix](#): > > This is true. American internet is frankly not very well developed. I believe the Japanese have some of the best internet available with most of the country getting 100+ mbits. > > Heck, their cell reception is stellar too. I had reception on the TOP of Mt. Fuji back in 2008. Are there antennas on the mountain? On Menorca cellular antennas are situated on the island’s only mountain and reception is mighty good from that location. ---
**Author:** ![aaaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@aaaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaaa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462/32 "2012-02-22T21:40:13Z")
> [@Harmonix](#): > > This is true. American internet is frankly not very well developed. I believe the Japanese have some of the best internet available with most of the country getting 100+ mbits. > > Heck, their cell reception is stellar too. I had reception on the TOP of Mt. Fuji back in 2008. > **[Which Country Has the World's Fastest Internet? \[INFOGRAPHIC\]](https://mashable.com/archive/fastest-download-speeds-infographic)** > > Which Country Has the World's Fastest Internet? \[INFOGRAPHIC\] According to that South Korea has the fastest internet but it also has a population of about 50 million in an area about a quarter the size of California. It’s also worth mentioning Seoul has a population of 10,000,000. So it has 1/5 of the country’s population in an area about half the size of Los Angeles. So basically it would be like half of New York City or Los Angeles (only the city) having 20% of the U.S. population. As stated earlier the size of the U.S. makes it difficult for an accurate comparison. It’s much easier to have fast internet in a dense country. If you are willing to pay for it though, you can have just as fast internet in the U.S. as in any other country. And most people living in the city or suburbs do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-in-usa-still-use-dial-up-internet/613462.md?page=1)