Broadband use explodes, with DSL outpacing cable

    More consumers signed up for digital subscriber line service from telephone companies than for cable modem service.
    Author:
    Publish date:

    Broadband Internet subscriptions soared 33 percent last year to 50.2 million lines, the FCC reported last week.

    More consumers signed up for digital subscriber line (DSL) service from telephone companies than for cable modem service. The commission reported that DSL subscriptions jumped 5.7 million lines versus cable companies adding 4.2 million subscribers in 2005.

    The cable industry's market share dropped 3.5 percentage points to 57.5 percent while DSL gained 3.3 percentage points to reach 40.5. DSL is typically less expensive than cable broadband service but usually offers slower download speeds.

    The United States is ranked 12th in the world for broadband subscribers behind countries including Iceland, South Korea and Japan, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's most recent rankings.

    U.S. officials have attributed the low ranking to other countries subsidizing the cost and because some of those nations have concentrated population centers that are easier to serve, Reuters reported.

    Related

    News

    DSL outgrows cable by eight percent

    This is the first time that the major providers of DSL services have garnered more new subscribers in a calendar quarter than their cable television competitors

    Miscellaneous

    DSL outgrows cable

    This is the first time that the major providers of DSL services have garnered more new subscribers in a calendar quarter than their cable television competitors

    Regulatory and Standards

    NIST Awards Grant for Video Over DSL Research

    Four high-tech companies involved in telecommunications and video have been awarded a $ 4 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a system that provides video services to the U.S. market over the telephone network using asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL). The pro

    Business

    Broadband Outpaces Dial-Up

    Internet audience measurement service Nielsen//NetRatings reported that broadband usage outpaced narrowband usage for the first time in January. According to the report, broadband surfers logged 1.19 billion hours, or 51 percent of the 2.3 billion hours spent online during January. Last year broadband users spent 727

    Miscellaneous

    DSL/cable modem update

    With existing systems in place, it would cost broadcasters about $2 per user to distribute a movie. Cable modems, or Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) which

    News

    NTL Tests HD Services over ADSL2+ (as in DSL)

    NTL Britain's biggest cable operator, is currently conducting trials of ADSL2+. The trials--first started in February but not confirmed until this month--are targeted to providing Internet access download speeds of more than 18Mbps. The top tier of consumer broadband service currently available to NTL customers is