For web developers: breakdown of net users by modem speed

[kranky]

Just was reading in Infoworld about a survey done by Nielsen regarding the speeds that people access the net.

............. Dec 2000 .................. Dec 1999
14.4K: ......... 5.0% ....................... 8.3%
28.8K: ......... 23.6% .................... 43.1%
56K: ........... 59.4% ..................... 42.2%
High-speed .. 12.0% ...................... 6.4%
(DSL, cable, ISDN, LAN)

Thought that might be interesting to those of you doing web development. It made me think back to when I first got my 56K modem, and the net was fast since pages were optimized for 14.4 and 28.8 users. Now things seem as slow as they used to be with my 14.4 modem with more graphic content on everyone's pages.

 

[IamDavid]

Nice to see broadband double in a year.. Hopefully the trend continues..

 

[Viper GTS]

The key figure there is that 88% of us are still on dial-up. Broadband is the MINORITY. Design your pages accordingly. Three minute flash intros are fine and dandy on cable, but suck ASS for dial-up users.

Viper GTS

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

good post, Nielsen's site linkified.

 

[vi edit]

Damn straight Viper. I hate it when I can't even get into a site because of a 3 meg flash file. A lot of sites anymore don't even give you the option of skipping through it. :|

 

[bigbootydaddy]

hopefully it doesnt double again, i dont want peeps on my node!!

hehehehehe

 

[BoberFett]

Good news for my company. We've been resisting the move to the internet and still ship our product on CD. It's paid off so far. A competitor of ours who dropped CDs and moved to an internet service only model dropped like a rock after its IPO.

Yeah for POTS.

 

[Adul]

That is helpful. Sometimes it is hard to remember that they are modem users out there.

 

[Russ]

Viper,

I'm on broadband, and even I hate those dumb ass Flash intros. When I visit a site, I'm looking for meat, not pretty garnish. Too many webmasters, in their mad rush to be "cooler" then the next, have lost sight of the fact that time is a finite commodity.

I still code my sites in such a way that a 28.8 user can get where they need to go.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Emulex]

cable broadbrand strength will continue its current growth rate according to my calculations. It looks strong, but i'm not sure if its going to grow any faster than it has in the past year.

 

[Ornery]

I'll be on cable as soon as it gets here. I'm about 15400 feet from the DSL CO, so I don't even want to bother. I'm stuck at 38,666 bps for the time being. It's not a bad transfer rate and no busy signals, so I can live with it. Gaming is out and surfing requires a strategy. Read a page while loading another. Don't lose much time that way.

Oh well, send your pity, I'll take it!

 

[Russ]

<< It's not a bad transfer rate >>



Yeah, I used to say that, too. Then, I went to a friends office warming party one Sunday. At the time, his was a 266Mhz with 64MB of RAM, mine was 800Mhz with 256MB, but he was DSL, I was dialup. I got on his system, hit the web and, holy crap!

I ordered DSL Monday morning.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Ornery]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm just saying that I've seen 45,000 - 50,000 bps connections that don't have as good a transfer rate as this one. I've got the best POTS service available around here. Just waiting for the good stuff. I hear that it might come with our new digital cable service in about a year. If I'm not mistaken, that will give me phone, IP, cable channels with each TV able to see different channels without extra receivers. I assume it will use special set top boxes though. My guess on the price is about $80.00 per month for everything at first. It will probably go down with competition.