49% of American homes have broadband

Broadband Internet access is coming up to 50% of all home Internet users, Nielsen//NetRatings reports. Its May analysis of Internet connections shows that 49% of all home users - 62.9 million households - are connecting via broadband. Four years ago, broadband users were 9% of the market with 7.2 million households. In that time, narrowband users have slipped from 74.5 milion households to 66.5 million. Nielsen/NetRatings also reports that broadband users spent an average of 17 hours online in May vs. 10 hours for narrowband users. In addition, broadband users viewed nearly 1,300 pages per person online, while dial-up users averaged 536. The average visits per person among broadband users totaled 33 while among narrowband users they totaled 18.