I grew up in a very rural area. The people who lived in town had the possibility of being able to buy broadband internet access. However the town centers were tiny. The majority of people lived outside of the town center in the woods or on farms. Most of them still do not have access to the option to buy broadband internet. Something about the phone towers being too far away for a strong signal. Everyone I know who still lives there has been trying for years to get the someone to offer them access, but the phone companies say it's impossible and/or there isn't enough profit in it for them.

I think it's easy if you're in an area where it's a given that everyone could have the option to buy internet access to forget that for large parts of the country that still isn't true. In other words, the reasons behind these numbers in this chart may not be what we assume they are and are probably different for different groups.

I see that this chart is for "American Adults". In Norway, almost everyone has access to broadband. The government has it at a really high priority, as it's important infrastructure, just like roads, electricity, water, phones etc. Yay Norway!

Then this chart must correlate with cable TV penetration.

Here's a visual on the spread of the internet that articulates nicely with this post. I thought it was really interesting and, sadly, not surprising.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8552410.stm