Pew: Gains in Broadband Use, VoIP Awareness

Awareness and Use of VoIP is Growing Fast: As of the end of 2005, 61 million Americans say they have heard of the service - up by 86 percent since February 2004 - and approximately 3 percent of Internet users have VoIP service at home. Of those with VoIP at home, about half have given up their traditional landline phone. Among respondents who identify themselves as "early adopters" of technology, one in ten (10%) haveVoIP telephone service at home

Aggressive discounting has helped telcos offering DSL service overcome cable companies' lead in the broadband market. DSL accounted for 50 percent of the home broadband market in our latest data while cable modem providers had 41 percent. This is an exact reversal of market shares from a year earlier, and DSL has a significant price advantage over cable modem service.

African Americans, whose home broadband penetration grew by 121 percent, from 14 percent of all adults to 31 percent with high-speed at home.