But not everyone is going online for help. Instead, the survey found sharp divisions between Americans who have broadband access at home or work and those who either have a dial-up connection or no access at all.

Americans who had broadband tended to use the Internet to help solve a variety of problems, and it seemed to drive them to access other information sources as well, including libraries, books and government agencies.

In contrast, those without broadband - who generally are older, poorer and less well educated than those with it - tended to report fewer problems they needed to solve and to use far fewer community resources in dealing with the issues they did have.

The importance of broadband access for the former group has little to do with the speed that data travels through a broadband connection, Rainie said. Instead, it's more about being able to access the Internet easily and immediately, he said.

"Once you get broadband, you see what's available and pursue more of what's available," Rainie said. "The Internet has taught people to be even more hungry about information and to be even more aggressive about hunting it down in a variety of places."

The survey asked people whether they had encountered in the past two years any of 10 particular issues that might require government help or information. It then asked those who answered "yes" what resources they used to deal with the issue.

Although the Internet wasn't the first choice for each individual problem, it was for six of the 10.

Some 77 percent of respondents, for instance, said they used the Internet to get information about schooling or job training. Likewise, some 66 percent of people seeking information about retirement or starting their own business went online, as did 64 percent of those who had a problem they wanted addressed by their local government such as a traffic issue.

For some issues, though, respondents continued to rely on more traditional sources of information. With health and legal problems, Americans were most likely to seek advice from experts in the field. And those who needed information on or had problems with Social Security or Medicare were most likely to go directly to the agencies overseeing those programs.

Regardless of the method they used to solve their problems, Americans were generally happy with the results. Among those who went online, for instance, 63 percent said that they were "very successful" in addressing their issue.

That was nearly indistinguishable from the portion of those who turned to experts, went to the library or contacted a government office or agency.

Contact Troy Wolverton at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (408) 920-5021.

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