Many Americans Refusing Broadband Internet, Congress Tells FCC To Figure Out Why

It’s not an issue you would think Congress would be worried about, but it turns out that the refusal to get high speed broadband service is a big concern for not only the U.S. government, but governments worldwide, so much so that Finland has promised universal broadband for all their citizens by the end of 2010.

The issue has become such a big problem that Congress this week ordered the FCC to research the lack of broadband acceptance and find out by February 2010 how they can turn around broadband subscriber numbers (hint, give it to us for free, just a thought).

Early numbers according to SlashGear are misleading, with 96% of American households being able to receive broadband services, but 33% of those same households refusing high speed services.

According to a New York Times report many of those households refusing service are lower income families who can’t afford the service and senior citizens who rarely or never use the internet. In fact only 30 percent of users 65 and older actually subscribe to any broadband services, with 18 to 29 years old users still at a low 77 percent.

What current reports don’t include are the number of users who simply refuse high speed internet because they don’t see the need for the services, a fact that the FCC will try to broach in their upcoming studies.

I’d like to save the FCC some tax payer cash and suggest they just figure out how to provide inexpensive broadband to the masses, rather than questioning why low income families aren’t paying $50 a month or more for those services, there you go, problem solved.