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New.net bases its estimate of total users with access on two numbers: 1)
the number of ISP accounts with access as reported by New.net activated
ISP partners (for free ISP partners, New.net uses the ISP’s reported
30 day active number); and 2) users who can access New.net domain name extensions
because they have activated their browsers by downloading our plug-in. These
raw numbers, which represent either ISP accounts or PCs with access, are
adjusted to reflect a conservative estimate of the actual number of people
accessing the Internet via these sources. In the case of ISP accounts the
number is adjusted based on information from the Department of Commerce
study Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Inclusion, A Report on Americans’
Access to Technology Tools and other sources which estimate 2.1 users per
household. For our calculation we conservatively assume all ISP accounts
are residential accounts despite the fact that in reality many accounts
are corporate accounts with much higher numbers of users per account. In
the case of client downloads in the US, the number is also adjusted based
upon information from the same Department of Commerce study, but only by
a factor of 1.5 to account for the likelihood that some people are using
these PCs from work only and therefore have a lower average number of users
per PC. For clients downloaded outside the U.S. there is no adjustment made
due to lack of any reliable information for our international markets despite
the fact that one could assume much higher use per computer numbers. Finally,
the number is also reduced to account for the likelihood that some of the
users who download our plug-in access the Internet via an ISP that already
recognizes New.net domain names. |
