DALLAS—Parks Associates is estimating that almost 114 million U.S. households access the internet at home at speeds faster than dial-up and that this number is likely to grow in the upcoming years as new 5G high-speed internet connections and broadband services become available.
“Over the past decade, high-speed internet adoption in the United States – here defined as an internet subscription adoption to the home or individual, with speeds faster than dial-up – has grown steadily since 2015,” said Kristen Hanich, director of research, Parks Associates. “These internet households may have home internet service or may rely on mobile internet, or a combination of the two.”
The new Parks research finds that as bundles have become less common, consumer spending on standalone internet service has increased significantly, from an average of $39 per household per month in 2011 to an average of $63 per month in 2021, a 62% growth. Standalone mobile service ARPU has stayed remarkably stable over this time period, with 2021 averages largely reflecting spending levels from 2011 and ARPU actually decreasing since 2016.
“A growing percentage of consumers are relying on fixed wireless or 5G home internet service, which includes services offered by traditional wireless internet service providers or mobile providers such as T-Mobile or US Cellular,” Hanich said. “The wider availability of these services, in addition to further build-outs of traditional fixed networks, will further help to drive home internet adoption over the next few years.”
Parks Associates’ latest Consumer Insights Dashboard analyzes the firm’s quarterly surveys of 10,000 U.S. internet households to track consumer adoption of and changes in home services, including home internet, pay TV, and mobile services.
