The Utah Broadband Project recently released the Utah Broadband Nonadopters Demand Study Report, which details the findings on why people do not use the Internet in Utah, and the barriers they face in accessing the Internet.
The report found that people who are not using the Internet, also known as nonadopters, are evenly distributed amongst all age, household income, education and employment status categories.
“With Utah having one of the highest broadband adoption rates in the country, it was difficult to find people who did not access the Internet,” said Kelleigh Cole, manager of the Utah Broadband Project. “This confirms Utah’s commitment to be a highly connected state even with our large geographic and rural areas.”
The Utah Broadband Project contracted with Utah State University and Southern Utah University to complete the survey. The study team surveyed 500 residents who do not subscribe to home Internet service, resulting in over 27,000 calls made.
The report found that 44 percent of nonadopters are not subscribing to home Internet service because they believe they don’t need it or are not interested in having Internet access at their place of residence, even though many of them are accessing the Internet at another location. About 27 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to subscribe to Internet if they received some type of computer training.
The report is divided into regions to support the efforts of the Utah Broadband Project’s recent Regional Broadband Planning Council initiative. These sections provide some insight into regional broadband adoption and are intended to provide supplemental information to the statewide survey.
Funding for this study was provided by the Utah Broadband Project, which is a joint effort between the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, the Public Service Commission and the Department of Technology Services’ Automated Geographic Reference Center, which is funded through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
A full version of the report can be found here: http://broadband.utah.gov/wp-
