Australian Bureau of Statistics hangs up on counting dialup internet connections
After having collected data on dial-up internet connections for over 15 years with cooperation from ISPs, the ABS has decided to pull the plug after subscriber numbers fell to 90,000 in June 2016.
It’s unsurprising that given the rise of fixed broadband technologies, such as cable, DSL, fibre, and wireless alternatives such as 3G and 4G cellular connections, that the humble dial-up internet connection has gradually declined in popularity. In fact, over the years, larger players such as British Telecom have pulled out of their shrinking local market forcing users to find alternative arrangements.
Interestingly, numbers have now dwindled to the point that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has decided to stop counting the number of dial-up connections down under.
Having first started collecting data in the last quarter of 2000, the ABS released its first Internet Activity report in March 2001 which found that there were 3.745 million dial-up internet subscribers. In stark contrast, in the six months ending June 2016, the final ABS report to include dial-up internet statistics indicated that there were just 90,000 subscribers left, representing less than 0.7% of all internet connections in Australia.
Another interesting statistic in the Internet Activity report has included the volume of data downloaded. Again, in the three months ending September 2000, just over 1TB of data had been downloaded across dial-up and permanent internet access connections. In comparison, for the six months ending June 2016, a total of 28TB had been downloaded by dial-up internet subscribers, making for an average of 311MB.
With regards to the cessation of dial-up internet connection statistics collection, the ABS said in its statement to Computerworld that:
While dial-up connections have not yet gone the way of the dodo, the arrival of the National Broadband Network may end up being the final nail in the coffin for the technology in Australia despite drawing criticism from local ISPs .
Source: Computerworld
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