Survey finds 1 in 5 Americans say they've never used the Web

It may sometimes seem like everyone's on the Internet, but one in five Americans say they've never been online and a third say they don't even use the Web occasionally, according to a new survey.

The survey by the nonprofit Pew Internet & American Life Project also shows there is still a significant digital divide between those who use and don't use the Internet, especially when it comes to race and income.

About 70 percent of white Americans use the Internet, compared to about 57 percent of African-Americans, according to the survey. There is an emerging new divide among those who have high-speed "broadband" Internet access and those who don't, said Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew project.

High-speed Internet access, such as DSL, cable modem or wireless service, lets users maneuver around the Web substantially faster than dial-up users. That allows them to easily download music, view videos or make phone calls. But it also makes accessing more important material such as health or financial information substantially easier.

According to a separate report last week by Nielsen//NetRatings, about 42 percent of the U.S. population has broadband Internet service, up from about 36 percent in January.

The Pew study indicates that the majority of those who do have broadband are affluent and well-educated.

About 66 percent of households that earn $75,000 or more annually have a high-speed broadband Internet service at home, according to the Pew study.

In contrast, only 21 percent of households that earn less than $30,000 a year have high-speed Internet service.

The differences are similar between those who have college degrees and those who have high-school degrees.

"What's starting to emerge ... is an elite group of people who are pulling away with what they can do online," Fox said.

"It's a classic digital divide story in a lot of ways — in terms of age, in terms of income, in terms of race," she said. "The new story is that it's the different access speeds that's creating a divide."

That may be changing, however.

Broadband prices have steadily declined in recent years, and President Bush has set a goal of ensuring broadband service is available to all Americans by 2007.

Meanwhile, several big cities are taking major steps to supply cheap or even free high-speed wireless service to residents.

Tuesday, Philadelphia announced it had picked Atlanta-based EarthLink Inc. to build a municipal wireless network that would offer service for $20 for typical users and $10 for low income users.

Also earlier this week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed that cheap or free high-speed wireless service was a "fundamental right" for residents there. Within three weeks, San Francisco plans to select a company to build a municipal network. Among the 23 competitors for the work include EarthLink, Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless and Google Inc., which has offered to build a network that would offer service for free.

Atlanta also is considering building a city-wide wireless Internet network.

Despite the growth of Internet access generally, Fox said one of the survey's most surprising findings was the relatively large percentage of Americans who still have never used the Internet.

About 22 percent of respondents, mostly elderly, said they have never used the Internet or e-mail. In a similar survey three years ago, an almost identical percentage said they never used the Internet.

That percentage will almost certainly decline over time, as older Americans die and Internet-savvy kids grow up.

But in the meantime, "we have to remember those people who are still off-line," Fox said. "They still exist. They're not very visible, but they're still out there."

Also somewhat telling in the survey was how people use their Internet access.

Besides e-mail, the most popular use of high-speed home access was not downloading music or buying goods on eBay, but getting the news, according to the survey.

About 82 percent of home broadband users said they got news online.

By comparison, 81 percent said they bought a product online and 39 percent said they participated in online auctions.

About 33 percent said they downloaded music.

The survey of more than 2,000 adults was conducted by telephone between February and June. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percent.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank created to explore the impact of the Internet.

INTERNET USE - BY THE NUMBERS

68: Percentage of American adults who use the Internet at least occasionally

32: Percentage of Americans who said they don't use the Internet

22: Percentage of Americans who said they have never used the Internet

57: Percentage of African-Americans who use the Internet

70: Percentage of white Americans who use the Internet

21: Percentage of households that earn less than $30,000 annually that have

high-speed access

34: Percentage of households that earn between $30,000-$49,999 that have

high-speed access

48: Percentage of household that earn between $50,000-$74,999 that have

high-speed access

66: Percentage of households that earn $75,000 or more that have high-speed

access

62: Percentage of Internet users with a college or graduate degree who have

a high-speed connection

44: Percentage of users with a high-school diploma who have a high-speed

connection

HOW PEOPLE USE THE INTERNET

Use. . . percent dial-up users. . . percent broadband users

Get news online. . .68 percent. . .82 percent

Buy products online. . .59. . .81

Bank online. . .35. . .59

Download computer games. . .35. . .47

Play online games. . .33. . .41

Read blogs. . .20. . .35

Participate in online auctions. . .19. . .39

Download music. . .17. . .33

Create blogs. . .4. . .11

SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project survey of more than 2,000 adults between February and June; overall margin

of error is plus or minus 2.3 percent.

Bob Keefe may be e-mailed at bkeefe(at)coxnews.com