A little under one-third of U.S. households have no Internet access . A little under one-third of U.S. households have no Internet access and do not plan to get it, with most of the holdouts seeing little use for it in their lives, according to a survey released on Friday. Park Associates, a Dallas-based technology market research firm, said 29 percent of U.S. households, or 31 million homes, do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to an Internet service over the next 12 months. The second annual National Technology Scan conducted by Park found the main reason potential customers say they do not subscribe to the Internet is because of the low value to their daily lives they perceive rather than concerns over cost. Forty-four percent of these households say they are not interested in anything on the Internet, versus just 22 percent who say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service, the survey showed. The answer "I'm not sure how to use the Internet" came from 17 percent of participants who do not subscribe. The response "I do all my e-commerce shopping and YouTube-watching at work" was cited by 14 percent of Internet-access refuseniks. Three percent said the Internet doesn't reach their homes. The study found U.S. broadband adoption grew to 52 percent over 2006, up from 42 percent in 2005. Roughly half of new subscribers converted from slower-speed, dial-up Internet access while the other half of households had no prior access. "The industry continues to chip away at the core of nonsubscribers, but has a ways to go," said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. "Entertainment applications will be the key. If anything will pull in the holdouts, it's going to be applications that make the Internet more akin to pay TV ," he predicted. 點擊查看更多雙語新聞 (AFP)

據上周五公布的一項調查顯示，近三分之一的美國家庭沒有上網服務，而且也不打算訂制，其中大多數家庭認為上網對他們的生活沒什么意義。 據達拉斯Park Associates技術市場調查公司介紹，29%的美國家庭（3100萬個家庭）未訂制上網服務，而且在未來的一年內也沒有這個打算。 這項由Park Associates公司開展的第二次年度全國科技調查發現，這些潛在用戶不申請網絡服務的主要原因是他們認為網絡在日常生活中沒有什么用途，而不是費用的問題。 調查顯示，這些家庭中的45%稱，他們對互聯網上的東西不感興趣；而只有22%稱他們買不起電腦或承擔不起上網費用。 17%的家庭說他們“不知道如何上網”；14%的家庭的回答則是“在上班時間網上購物或觀看YouTube上的視頻”；3%的家庭稱網絡還沒通到家里。 調查發現，美國的寬帶使用率從2005年的42%上升到了2006年的52%。近一半的新用戶此前使用的是網速較慢的撥號上網服務，另一半用戶之前沒有訂制網絡服務。 Parks Associates公司的調查部經理約翰·巴里特說：“目前互聯網業在繼續努力，試圖改變這些非網絡用戶的想法，但仍然需要一個過程。” 據約翰預測，“娛樂應用將是解決這一問題的關鍵。只有讓互聯網的作用更接近付費電視，才能贏得這些用戶。” （ 英語點津姍姍編輯）