Specifications

www.pcmag.com SEPTEMBER 16, 2003 PC MAGAZINE

103

Scorecard

ccording to the online research firm Nielsen//NetRatings,

63 percent of all home Internet users in the United States

still connect via ordinary dial-up modem. This puts the

country well behind such nations as Canada and South Korea. In

Korea, according to that country’s Ministry of Information and

Communication, over 70 percent of home users have broadband

connections. “The difference is that in places like the Pacific Rim

and Canada, governments are providing broadband incentives,” says

Andy King, who runs Web research and consulting firm Web Site

Optimization, where he compiles a monthly “Bandwidth Report” on

the state of consumer Internet access.

In the world of PC Magazine readers, broadband uptake actually

rivals that of South Korea; it reached 75 percent in June of 2003. But

that still leaves 25 percent of you in the dial-up doldrums. Then

there are others who already use broadband but are unhappy with

their particular services. For all of you looking to install a new