Comments on: Study says many USA dial-up users don’t want broadband http://lirneasia.net/2008/07/study-says-many-usa-dial-up-users-dont-want-broadband/ a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:46:17 +0000 hourly 1 By: Rohan Samarajiva http://lirneasia.net/2008/07/study-says-many-usa-dial-up-users-dont-want-broadband/comment-page-1/#comment-12672 Rohan Samarajiva Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:25:09 +0000 http://lirneasia.net/?p=1652#comment-12672 Interesting that rural users express a greater interest in broadband than urban. This suggests that the flat-rate, bundled pricing for local calls that is found in the US and Canada (but not anywhere else) could be playing a role. In the flat-rate system, you do not pay for the minutes you are connected; all you pay for are the ISP charges. This makes dial-up a lot cheaper in the US and Canada than elsewhere, if the call is local. In the urban areas,the call to the ISP is almost always a local call. In rural areas, it may not be. Thus, it is possible that the rural users find dial-up to be expensive (in addition to the normal quality concerns). Interesting that rural users express a greater interest in broadband than urban.

This suggests that the flat-rate, bundled pricing for local calls that is found in the US and Canada (but not anywhere else) could be playing a role. In the flat-rate system, you do not pay for the minutes you are connected; all you pay for are the ISP charges. This makes dial-up a lot cheaper in the US and Canada than elsewhere, if the call is local. In the urban areas,the call to the ISP is almost always a local call. In rural areas, it may not be. Thus, it is possible that the rural users find dial-up to be expensive (in addition to the normal quality concerns).

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