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Don't believe all you've heard about the end of the broadband boom. Two studies released this week show that interest in broadband connections is climbing, and subscriptions to high-speed services are on the rise. But while we're still shelling out for high-speed connections, the actual speed those services provide may vary greatly.

Recent reports have highlighted the slow rate of adoption of high-speed Internet access, blaming its relatively high cost, confusing government involvement, and lack of compelling applications. The struggles of Internet access providers, notably AOL, to convince customers to upgrade to broadband has been well publicized. So, is the market ready to turn around?

Not exactly, but there's good news: Industry research firms ComScore Networks and Parks Associates report increased interest in high-speed access.

Broadband's Lure

While most Internet users still surf over a dial-up connection, many are eyeing faster speeds. Almost half of households using dial-up are interested in upgrading to broadband this year, according to a study by Parks Associates. That's almost a 50 percent increase in broadband interest over last year, according to the report, "Trends in U.S. Broadband Adoption."

That increased interest is likely to mean an increase in actual broadband subscribers, Parks Associates says.

"U.S. consumers are now more aware of the value of broadband," Michael Greeson, senior analyst and director of broadband research for Parks Associates, says in a statement. "But consumer demand for broadband will ultimately be tempered by accessibility to service, subscription costs, and the availability of meaningful content and services."

Higher Speeds?

Consumers not only know the value of broadband, but they're also increasingly reaping its benefits, according to the new ComScore Networks study. The number of home broadband users increased by 9 percent in the six months from October 2002 to March 2003, the study shows. During that same period, the number of dial-up users decreased by 2 percent. ComScore estimates that 28 percent of Internet users now have a broadband connection at home.

While these consumers are willing to pay the extra price for broadband access, service providers must do more to draw new users, ComScore says.

The packaged services and exclusive content offered by many ISPs may not be the best bait, analysts say. What broadband subscribers want--and what ISPs must provide--is speed.

Surprisingly, the speeds offered by broadband connections vary greatly, ComScore finds. Cable modems provide an almost 50 percent performance boost over DSL connections, according to the study. ComScore says the average speed of a cable modem is 708 kilobits per second, while the average DSL speed is only 467 kbps.

"It didn't necessarily surprise us that cable modems outperformed DSL connections," says Russ Fradin, the executive vice president of corporate development at ComScore. "What surprised me was the giant variances in speeds offered by cable providers when compared to other cable providers, and in DSL services versus other DSL services."

Studying the Speeds

ComScore's data was gleaned through its nationwide network of 1.5 million Internet users, a group the company says is representative of Internet users nationwide. ComScore studied their connections' upload and download speeds at various times throughout the day to determine the actual connection speeds. All major cable and DSL providers are represented in the study.

"It's a true end-to-end performance measurement," Fradin says.

Among Internet service providers, ComScore says Cablevision Systems offers the fastest cable modem speeds, at 800 kbps. Comcast Cable follows closely at 794 kbps. AT&T Worldnet's service is the speediest among DSL services, averaging 762 kbps, according to ComScore. SBC's DSL service also proves speedy, averaging 584 kbps.

The slowest DSL services came from EarthLink and Qwest, averaging 369 kbps and 240 kbps, respectively. On the cable modem front, Cox Cable and Adelphia Cable sit at the bottom of the list. The average broadband speed for Cox customers is 688 kbps, and for Adelphia, 575 kbps, according to ComScore's study.

"These speed jumps are very noticeable," Fradin says.

At the high end of the speed curve, subscribers see streaming video as true video, and can send and receive large e-mail attachments with ease. At the bottom end, they could be paying a premium for a connection that's only four to six times as fast as dial-up.

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