Over the weekend, New York Times contributor Randall Stross shared some interesting thoughts on broadband.  With broadband access reaching the vast majority of Americans, he asks a key question: why have 33 percent of U.S. households elected not to subscribe?

The subject is the topic of a planned FCC survey.  But the article suggests that the FCC’s research will likely mirror what Pew Internet data already shows: that general lack of interest as well as age are leading factors, with only 30 percent of Americans who are 65 or older using broadband.

The FCC’s own survey of non-adopters is likely to confirm that many older people are simply not as comfortable with newer technology. But it may also reveal that there is an irreducible core of people, spanning ages and income levels, who simply do not want to use the Internet.

With all of the opportunities that broadband offers in our lives, and deployment that reaches approximately 95% of Americans, it seems that consumer adoption is certainly the primary broadband challenge that as a nation we need to tackle today.

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