Stimulating Broadband: If Obama builds it, will they log on?

Investment in broadband has become part of the broader discussion about President Obama's economic stimulus package. Although job creation is the main topic in this debate, there are really three policy goals associated with broadband in the stimulus package: creating new jobs, creating new broadband subscribers, and improving the broadband experience for all subscribers through faster networks. The goals are obviously related. New or better broadband infrastructure might attract new subscribers or encourage existing subscribers to upgrade to faster service. New (or upgrading) subscribers place demands on communications infrastructure, which in turn may require more workers to serve them. How easy will it be to increase the pool of broadband subscribers or to encourage existing ones to upgrade their connection speeds? Two surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project help address these issues. If more and faster broadband is provided, more people will subscribe. However, one-in-five Americans currently don't have broadband for reasons that won't be addressed by price cuts or a fiber node in the neighborhood. It will take time to get them up and running on broadband -- probably longer than the impacts of the stimulus package are intended to last.