The document summarizes the key findings of the 2012 Minnesota Internet Survey conducted by the Center for Rural Policy and Development. It found that while adoption rates of computers, internet, and broadband continue to increase in rural Minnesota, they still lag behind rates in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It also found that over a quarter of Minnesota households now use cell phones only. The use of social media, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), and streaming video has increased dramatically in recent years.

1. 2012 Minnesota
Internet Survey
November 2012
Center for Rural Policy and
Development
St. Peter, MN
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

2. Minnesota Internet Survey
 Began as the Rural Minnesota Survey in
2001
 Developed as a way to measure the
adoption rate of computers, Internet use and
broadband across rural Minnesota
 In 2005, the Twin Cities metropolitan
counties were added to provide comparison
 In 2012, cell phones were added to capture
the population of cell phone-only
households, which make up 26% of
households statewide.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

3. 2012 Findings
 Adoption rates continue to go up, but at a
slower rate; rural is still several percentage
points behind the Twin Cities.
 Over one quarter of Minnesota households use
cell phones only.
 Use of social media, VOIP, and streaming
video are up dramatically in the last two years.
 People are accessing the Internet outside the
home more than ever with a larger variety of
devices than ever.
 The primary reasons people give for not
purchasing broadband access at home are
lack of interest and cost.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

4. Rural and urban in Minnesota
The seven-county Twin
Cities metro area is
home to about 60% of
the state’s population.

5. Computer, Internet, and broadband
adoption since 2001
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

6. Who’s using what
Computer Internet Broadband
Metro 86.7% 83.1% 79.2%
Rural 78.3% 74.5% 70.6%
Percentage of households with
these technologies in their homes.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

7. Who’s using what
Rural Metro
Cable modem 20.5% 27.6%
DSL 23.7% 22.2%
High-speed wireless 22.1% 27.7%
High-speed satellite 4.3% 1.7%
Dial up 2.2% 0.9%
Percentage of Don't know 1.7% 3.0%
households with
a home Internet
Dialup HHs (est.) 38,151 19,267
connection
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

8. Broadband adoption by age
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50% Rural
40% Metro
30%
Percentage of all
households 20%
10%
0%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

9. Broadband adoption
by income
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
Rural
40%
Metro
30%
Percentage of all
households 20%
10%
0%
< $25,000 $25,000 $40,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $150,000
to to to to to +
$39,000 $49,000 $74,000 $99,000 $150,000
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

10. Broadband adoption rates by
income, 2003 & 2012
$100,000 +
$75,000 to $99,000
$50,000 to $74,000
2003
$40,000 to $49,000 2012
$25,000 to $39,000
Among all
< $25,000
households
0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0% 100.0%
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

11. The impact of the presence of
children in the household
Rural Metro
Kids No kids Kids No kids
Do you have a
89.7% 74.0% 96.4% 81.6%
computer?
Do you have an Internet
88.7% 69.1% 93.9% 77.5%
connection?
Do you have
85.7% 64.9% 90.9% 73.1%
broadband?
How important is being
able to access
58.5% 37.9% 65.2% 51.2%
Among all broadband?
(Very important)
households
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

12. Using broadband
Mean hours Yes
Metro 4.6 Metro 85.7%
Rural 4.2 Rural 78.0%
How many hours a Are you satisfied with
week is someone in the speed of your
your household Internet connection?
accessing the
Internet?
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

13. What we do online
Rural Metro
Send and receive email 96.2% 98.6%
Check the weather 88.7% 89.3%
Access news web sites 79.9% 82.6%
Research a purchase you're
planning 79.6% 86.3%
Purchase something at an online
store or auction 77.6% 84.0%
Do banking, pay bills or other
financial business online 77.2% 85.4%
Use social media 75.1% 81.8%
Top ten Stay informed on community
activities online news and events 69.6% 69.6%
among households Share photos 69.3% 79.8%
with a home
Internet connection Research medical information 63.9% 70.1%
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

14. Fastest growing activities
 Social media
 Staying informed on community news and
events
 Watching movies or TV shows
 Placing a phone call over the Internet
 Playing games online with other gamers
 Selling goods or services online
 Communicating with your doctor, nurse, or
other caregiver
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

15. Differences between
rural and metro
Difference
(Percentage
Rural Metro points)
Watch movies or
TV shows 46% 71% 25
Download music
or video files 55% 73% 18
Share photos 69% 80% 11
Communicate
There is still a large with doctor or
gap between rural nurse or other
and metro in some caregiver 13% 23% 10
activities.
Do work for
employer at
home 33% 44% 10
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

16. How we access the Internet
at home
100%
80%
60%
Rural
40%
Metro
20%
Among
households with 0%
a home Internet Home Tablet Cell phone Gaming Other
computer computer device
connection
“Other” included e-readers, video devices such as
Roku, netbooks, and iPods.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

17. What we use the most to
connect to the Internet
Rural Metro
Home Computer 73.8 69.9
Tablet 12.3 11.0
Cellular Phone 9.6 11.0
Gaming Device 2.9 5.3
Other devices 1.4 2.8
Among
households with
a home Internet
connection
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

18. Accessing broadband outside
the home
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
Rural
10%
Among households Metro
5%
reporting that they
0%
accessed the Internet
somewhere outside
their home.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

19. “How important is it that you be able to
access broadband in your home?”
60%
50%
40%
30%
Rural
Metro
20%
Among all
households
10%
0%
1 Not 2 Somewhat 3 Neutral 4 Somewhat 5 Very
Important not important important Important
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

20. Importance of home access by
age
80%
70%
60%
50%
40% Rural
Metro
30%
20%
Percentage
reporting “very 10%
important”
0%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

21. Why people don’t purchase
Internet at home
Rural Metro
Doesn't need Internet access 12.2% 7.0%
Has access to Internet
someplace else 1.8% 2.7%
Not available where they live 0.5% 1.0%
Too expensive 4.5% 2.5%
Doesn't know how to use the
Internet 2.6% 1.5%
Among all
households Concerned about the security of
their information 1.6% 0.6%
Other reason 2.3% 1.5%
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

22. Why people don’t purchase
Internet for their home
 25% of rural households and 17% of Twin
Cities households don’t have Internet.
 Most common reason:
“I don’t need it.”
 Next most common:
“Too expensive” for rural; “Has access
someplace else” or “Too expensive” for
metro.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

23. Why people don’t purchase
Internet for their home
 A lot appears to depend on age.
 30% of all rural households over age 65
responded that they did not need Internet
access; 23% in the Twin Cities.
 13% of rural 18- to 34-year-olds said it was
too expensive, compared to 1.8% in the
Twin Cities.
 For those making < $25,000, 33% in rural
said they don’t need Internet, 26% in Twin
Cities.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

24. Why people don’t purchase
Internet for their home
 In the < $25,000 income group (statewide):
 30% are seniors. They find Internet the
least important.
 35% are age 18-35. They are the most
likely to use mobile devices to access the
Internet outside the home.
 Both groups likely consider home Internet
service optional.
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

25. The Digital Divide 2.0
 As broadband adoption reaches its
saturation point in Minnesota, there are
three main takeaways.
 Remaining non-adopters
 The mobile Internet
 Speed
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

26. Remaining non-adopters
 The remaining non-adopters can be
characterized in three ways.
 Attitude
 “I don’t need Internet”
 “I wouldn’t know how to use it”
 Affordability
 “It’s too expensive”
 Alternatives
 “I can get it someplace else (for free)”
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

27. The mobile Internet
 Portable devices make it easy to access the
Internet away from home
 Nature of access is changing
 Changing expectations on access
 No longer necessary to buy home access,
at least for a fixed location
 Affects providers, consumers, businesses,
policy makers
 Fewer rural consumers using Internet
outside the home: fewer options?
 3g vs 4g cell phone service
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

28. Speed
 Bandwidth is still a function of location
 Demand for bandwidth is only going up
 Today: Streaming video services, online
gaming
 Tomorrow: Education, health care and
business promise to be large users of
bandwidth
 Communities that cannot add capacity will
fall behind as new technology goes from
fantasy to reality
© Center for Rural Policy & Development

29. 2012 Minnesota
Internet Survey
To find out more about the survey and to
download a copy of the report,
visit our web site at
www.ruralmn.org
© Center for Rural Policy & Development