Home networking to skyrocket, study says

The number of networked homes in North America will swell to 46 million by 2009, up from 10 million in 2003, according to market research company Forrester.

This spurt is expected to boost sales of consumer electronics and access devices such as digital video recorders (DVRs) and camera phones, Forrester said. The data was garnered from a survey of 60,000 households.

DVRs are poised for a tenfold growth by 2009, Forrester says. Meanwhile, camera phone usage should spread from 2.7 million households in 2003 to 58 million households in 2009.

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About two-thirds of North American homes will be connected by mobile phones by then, Forrester predicts.

Additionally, the study said that, in the past year, 4.3 million North American households started using broadband services to access the Internet, taking the total number of broadband users to 23.1 million. Forrester estimates that number will triple over the next five years, a prediction similar to a recent forecast by the Yankee Group.

Though cable companies still account for over 60 percent of broadband connections, the growth of these services will slow, Forrester said.

Between 2001 and 2003, DSL's market share grew by 5.7 percent, whereas cable broadband's share fell by 6.5 percent, according to the research company.

The survey also attempts to throw light on Internet users' habits. E-mail continues to be predominant online activity for most, Forrester said. Broadband users are more likely to download music and video, visit comparison-shopping sites and use photo-sharing sites. The average broadband user is also much more likely to have made an online purchase of $80 or more in the past three months, the company said.

Compared with their dial-up counterparts, broadband consumers earn 27 percent more, spend 52 percent more time online and are more optimistic about technology, Forrester said.

[tbeckner]

Cable Broadband to Slow?

Four years ago, the CEO of Cisco was predicting that DSL would over take Cable many years ago, but the advantages of Cable over DSL seem to grow and Cable still holds the lead 4 years later. I actually think it is wishful or uninformed thinking that goes into the DSL vs Cable prediction.

[Prndll]

The method of obtaining these stats..........

I am concerned with how these figures became known. I question Forrester's methods of survey. I don't like the idea of some company tracking my surfing habits (regardless what they might be).

It is my firm beliefe that cable based internet connections are best for the average user. Especially if your going to have cable tv. Although, cable is just not feasable in many situations.

However, I do believe that there is way too much misinformation and too many uninformed users to get any kind of accuracy out of any kind of survey of this nature. lol. So many users don't even know what "cookies" are or how they can be used.

If I didn't have such a passion for this technology, it would probably give me a headache and raise my blood presure.