Non-Users & Access Barriers

Table 4 tracks the main barriers to Internet access from home identified in the 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002 Rethinking the Information Highway telephone survey. This question was addressed to respondents who did not have access to the Internet from home. A majority of these respondents were also defined as nonusers, since they had not had access to the Internet in the last three months, either at work, at school or from a public access point. ³

The proportion of respondents who identify a lack of interest as the main reason why they do not have access from home has remained steady from 1997 to 2000 (approximately 30 per cent) but increased by 10 percentage points in the last soundings. The significant shift from 1997 to 1999 in the proportions who identify cost vs. need as the main barrier (wide swing towards cost in 1999) retreated somewhat in 2000. In 2001, the most important barrier to home access is interest, as indicated by a plurality (40 per cent) of respondents.

It is interesting to look at the differences based on Internet users and non-users. Overall, interest remains the most significant barrier for non-users, while cost is the overwhelmingly the key reason why Internet users do not have home access.

³ Methodological note: the survey item “What is the main reason why you do not have access to the Internet from home?” is an open-ended question. In other words, respondents were not asked to select which answer is closest to their opinion or most accurately reflects their situation. Open-ended questions are coded postfacto, where the answers provided by respondents are classified into broader (inclusive) categories. When we say that the respondent identified “cost” as the main barrier, the response may have included answers such as “too expensive” or “cannot afford it”. The three main barriers, cost, need, and interest, capture most of the answer categories offered by respondents to this survey item. The percentages represent the frequency of responses among these three barriers, and not the overall (gross) frequency of responses. The same methodology was applied to the 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001 survey data.