7.0
Recommendations

Since early 2000, growth in access to the Internet has slowed in Canada. Access from home and elsewhere is showing signs of reaching a plateau for all socio-economic levels. While lower income Canadian households exhibited the greatest amount of growth in this period (40 per cent overall connected from somewhere, and 31 per cent from home), it is expected that access in this sub-group will now begin to plateau. If growth in different sub-groups does continue in the near term, it will be at a much slower pace than the previous three years.

At the end of 2000, those not connected from home comprised 49 per cent of the Canadian population. Cost/Affordability is the most important variable or obstacle to home Internet access. Lack of interest and need are also major factors for why people are not connected. Cost is a more important barrier to Internet access for those in the lower classes (the lower income bracket (<$20k) and the lower middle income segment ($20-39k)). There are also differential levels of access based on location (urban and rural areas), gender, education and age. Type of job has a bearing on whether individuals have an alternative means of Internet access to that at home. Literacy is also a barrier for many.