The Broadband Value

By Sean Wargo

Senior Industry Analyst, Consumer Electronics Association

Broadband is a question of costs and benefits. Pull out your economics textbooks for here we have an example of classic microeconomics. Net benefits equals benefits minus costs. So it is in the minds of the millions of consumers now evaluating whether to take the on-ramp to the broadband superhighway. Does the average dial-up Internet user have a compelling incentive to upgrade? Are the incentives compelling enough to overcome price concerns? Based on current adoption, it appears not.