Broadband Finally Overtakes Dial-Up In Australia
Remember dial-up internet? That incredibly slow and awkward way that you used to use to access the internet back in the 90s and early naughties? Well, it’s still around, although it is dying a slow and painful death.
the good news is that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has announced that for the very first time, Broadband has overtaken dial-up as the method of choice for Australian consumers to access porn the Internet.
If the concept of people still using dial-up offends your geeky sensibilities (like it does ours), then you can take solace in the fact that these results - published today - are actually from 2006-2007, and are in comparison to results from 2004-2005.
From the ABS Report Australian Social Trends 2008:
In just two years, the rate of Broadband Internet connections increased from 16% of Australian households in 2004-05 to 43% in 2006-07, becoming more prevalent than dial-up connections (20% of households in 2006-07) for the first time. Broadband now accounts for between one-half and two-thirds of all Internet connections at home across almost all demographic groups and geographic areas.
It’s weird. Despite the fact that they address the rapid uptake of broadband as a technology, they seem to forget that technology is advancing a lot faster than other areas statistics cover. Those results are well over 12 months old - by now I would assume that 60-70 percent of households would have broadband, and by the time the next report comes out, it should be up in the 90 percent range. Dial up today is most likely a relic from an ancient time, not 20% of the market.
Which makes this whole report a bit of a waste of time (for us here today - it’s still important from a historical perspective). Hopefully one day we’ll see real-time statistics so we can report on current events…
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Comments
Im glad that was an old report…but im sure there are still people out there using dial up. I cant imagine who would us it its so slow! It feels like dial up is from the dark ages.
Who uses dialup?
Those of us in large areas of rural/regional Australia, where broadband is just as slow as dialup and without any redeeming features which would justify the rip off costs involved.
any report on any technology that comes out 12 months after the fact is a waste of time and money.
well i live in an inner city suburb of sydney and, having travelled through Asia and lived in Singapore, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur, our broadband coverage is still PITIFUL compared to many of these places. how a first world country can possibly still be doing surveys on broadband take-up rate is beyond rationalization. this should have happened years ago. aussie telcos, shame on you!
We are a joke of a nation when it comes to internet. Have a look at our “mainstream plain vanilla” home plans, what is telstra offering 300mb ? uploads included ? how do we compare to japan ? US ? or have a look at iphone plans world wide, US unlimited, uk unilimited, Aus 5 mb telstra plan. Lets face it, we are a backward nation, corporate greed stifles any progress, we might as well stay with dialup ….
This sounds entirely believable to me. I think the dial-up penetration currently is surprisingly high, especially when you consider the relatively high cost of uptake.
I myself was still using dialup until less than three months ago, and yes, it was painful.
LOL
I am an Australian living now in Kiel Germany. Australia’s “Broadband” is a joke! who cares what coverage you get?
I couldn’t believe that upon getting my first net connection here it cost a mere 30€ per month (roughy $45 aus). This includes flaterate phone calls across the whole of Germany. In addition to that flaterate download (no download limit.
But thats the best best part! your average 256k connection in Aus will download your average file at around 25Kb/s. When I download a file I get an average of 600Kb/s with maxium around 800!!!! thats more than 20 times faster!!!! and I have an average connection (LOL) you can get ones twice that! I guess Australian’s are like mushrooms. Can’t wait until we “see the light”