[Edit] That's a good distinction. I would have preferred a more detailed comparison between freemail users on the one hand, and ISP email users on the other, in

[Edit] That's a good distinction. I would have preferred a more detailed comparison between freemail users on the one hand, and ISP email users on the other, including all the major ISPs in North America. I wonder how the Comcast clientele compares with those of AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon, as well as Canadian monopolies like Bell and Rogers. The stark difference between the freemail demographic and ISP email users are probably also due to: 1) You should intend to live in the same place for a long time if you use your ISP's email address. Because if you move to a state where your current ISP doesn't have a monopoly, you might not be able to keep that email address. 2) Using an email address at your ISP is decidedly uncool among the young. What good is an email address that can't sign you into Xbox Live or YouTube? Some ISPs have deals with the Big Three, but a lot of the rest still slap SquirrelMail on top of a vanilla POP3/IMAP/SMTP setup and call it a day. 3) Many old people simply don't think of email as anything other than what their ISP set them up with. Webmail is a foreign concept to them. These are the folks who equate "Internet" with the blue "e" icon and "email" with Outlook Express. Using the Internet to read email would sound to them just as nonsensical as using a bicycle to mow the lawn. I'm not sure about the home ownership factor because you can easily subscribe to cable even if you rent. You might not want to get the expensive package with all the channels, but a basic plan that includes "high speed internet" is as essential nowadays as water and electricity (even though it is slowly being replaced by mobile data plans).