30% of U.S. households stuck in dial-up hell

As the number of connected households in the U.S. grows — over 85 million are now connected to the web — as many as 30% are stuck with Internet speeds slower than 0.2 megabits per seconds.

Those figures come from the Federal Communications Commission’s latest Internet Access Services report, which highlights the persistent divide between those with high-speed connections and those with dial-up speeds.

Some other intriguing stats:

• Around 54% of connected households can download data at 3 Mbps or faster, according to the FCC, which defines broadband Internet as higher than 4 Mbps.
• Mobile connections are growing faster (in both speed and number) than home connections, says the report. Last June, there were 93 million mobile connections with speeds of 3 Mbps or higher, compared to just 43 million a year prior.
• There is a substantial correlation between income and Internet speed. Only 20% of households in the top 10% of earners have Internet speeds slower than 0.2 Mbps, while 55% of households in the lowest 10% of earners have Internet speeds that slow.
• People in urban areas are more likely to subscribe to Internet service than people in less-populated regions.

Via NYT