By Geoff Duncan
Staff Writer, Designtechnica News

The Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that the gap between urban and rural broadband access in the U.S. is still substantial, but it is narrowing.  

A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds what 24 percent of adult rural Americans used a high-speed connection to access the Internet at the end of 2005, compared to 39 percent of home Internet users in urban and suburban areas of the United States.

That's still a significant gap, but consider in 2003 just nine percent of rural Americans had broadband Internet access, compared 22 percent of urban and suburban Americans

Overall, rural America's Internet access still lags behind the rest of the country, but the gap is beginning to close. IN 2005, some 62 percent of rural home users could access the Internet (by any means—dialup, broadband, Wi-Fi) from any location (home, work, school, etc.), compared to 70 percent of urban and suburban users. This is only half the gap which existed in 2003.

Some 90 percent of rural Internet users with broadband access the Internet using cable modems or DSL, with the market split between the two technologies. The report found little evidence for widespread wireless Internet access in rural areas, although users accessing the Internet using fixed wireless and satellite Internet service increased to 5 percent i 2005, compared to less than 1 percent in 2003.

The report finds one consequence of slower rural broadband adoption is that users in rural areas access the Internet less often and participate in fewer activities online than other Americans—not because their tastes are different, but because home broadband access is less available. Conversely, the gap in broadband access from the workplace wasn't very great between rural and urban areas: 72 percent of rural workers with online access can use broadband connections, compared to 75 percent of urban and suburban workers.

Interestingly, the report found rural and urban users were more likely to engage in particular sorts of online activities. Urban and suburban users were more likely to use online banking services, read a blog, browse online classifieds, or make travel plans online. Rural users, conversely, were more likely than urban users to download computer games and screensavers, take online classes for credit, and participate in fantasy sports leagues.