A Longitudinal Study Into the Reasons and Thresholds for Residential Users to Switch to Broadband (2001 to 2005).

Now that internet has become widely available in the Netherlands, some people have taken the step to a broadband connection at home whereas others have not. The goal of this research is to obtain insights into the reasons why people adopt or reject broadband in the residential context. This investigation is done from a user perspective. Using online questionnaires, a longitudinal (2001, 2003, 2005) study was performed. Results show that three features of broadband have been reasons to adopt it over the years: high speed, always on and flat rate. Furthermore, results show that for long the most important threshold was the financial one and paradoxically financial aspects are also a trigger for adoption. This financial bottleneck has largely disappeared, as well as the physical accessibility threshold. Cognitive and technical thresholds have shown less important over the years. What remains are the internet users who are quite satisfied with their current narrowband connection. It is probably hard to convince those people of the usefulness of broadband, unless for example alternatives are no longer available. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]