November 9, 2011

According to a Commerce Department report, Exploring the Digital Nation — Computer and Internet Use at Home, 82.3% of Utah homes are connected to the internet, the highest percentage in the country. 79.7 percent are connected via high-speed broadband, and another 2.6 percent have dial-up service. Nationally, 68 percent of homes have broadband connections and another 3 percent have dial-up. No. 2 behind Utah is New Hampshire, where 77.8 percent of homes have broadband and 3.2 percent have dial-up. Lowest in the nation is Mississippi, where 51.7 percent have broadband and 6 percent have dial-up. There are three components to its No. 1 ranking. Utah has the nation’s youngest average age, and youth demand and use the Internet more than older people. Utah’s population is concentrated almost exclusively in the urban strip along the Wasatch Front where the Internet is easily accessible. The report indicates that 70 percent of the nation’s urban population has broadband service, while only 57 percent of rural residents do. And Utah has a high-tech tradition that may have made Internet use more common ealier than other states. The University of Utah was part of a small four-university computer network with UCLA, Stanford, and the University of California-Santa Barbara that was the early precursor to the Internet. The study also indicates that the most important reasons homes are without the Internet include: lack of need or interest (47%), lack of affordability (24%), and an inadequate computer (15%). Utah also has the highest rate in the nation of homes with computers — 86.7 percent. Mississippi was the lowest at 67.5 percent. It said computers are still the principal way to access the Internet although access by devices such as cellphones and tablets is growing rapidly.