Do People Still Use Dial-Up?

In the United States, about 2.5 million people used dial-up Internet service from America Online (AOL) in 2012. Although the number of dial-up users dropped by about 15% from the previous year, about 2.2% of the US population was using dial-up Internet service in 2012. By comparison, about 70% of American adults used high-speed broadband Internet connections. A 2009 Pew Internet survey found that the main reasons people still used dial-up were that it was more affordable than broadband or because high-speed Internet wasn’t available where they lived. Those who didn’t have any Internet service tended to cite a lack of interest as the reason.

More about Internet usage:

• An estimated one-third of the world’s population uses the Internet, and nearly half of the world’s users were younger than 25 years old in 2011.


• China has the most Internet users, comprising about one-quarter of the world’s Internet users in 2011.


• From 2008 to 2010, the cost of high-speed broadband Internet access dropped by 50% in developing countries, which is thought to have contributed to the decline of dial-up users.