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The vast majority of U.S. households that are not online have no interest in the Web, an indication that Internet penetration has stalled, a market research firm said Friday.

A survey of 1,000 U.S. homes showed that about 36 percent of U.S. households were not online, and only 2 percent intended to subscribe to an Internet service this year, according to Parks Associates. The percent of households without Web access extrapolated to 39 million homes.

"We're starting to hit a wall as far as Internet penetration goes," John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, said. "We're getting down to the people who just don't want it."

Cost was a factor in only 4 percent of the households not connected to the Web. Thirty-one percent said they didn't need it because they had access to the Internet at work, 18 percent said they weren't interested in anything on the Web, and 8 percent said they weren't sure how to use the Web.

Thirty-nine percent chose the "other reason" category on the survey. "That's usually the consumer's way of saying they're not interested," Barrett said.
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Read More / Source: Information Week