May 2006: 72% of U.S. households with Internet used broadband connections

That's according to the results of a Nielsen//NetRatings survey reported today in Adweek. The survey found the 72 percent figure is up 15 percentage points compared to May 2005 (57 percent). New broadband users tend to be former dial-up users, as dial-up penetration dropped by 15 percentage points over the same period of time, going from 43 percent to 28 percent.

Much of El Dorado County continues to bring up the rear, stuck in the 28 percent category not out of a preference for dial up, but for lack of broadband Internet access. For too many in the county, it's still Al Gore's Internet, frozen in time where it stood when Gore assumed the vice presidency in 1993 and dial up was the only way to get Internet access.