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DALLAS — High-speed Internet service is still just a dream for many Americans who live in rural areas and find themselves beyond the reach of DSL or cable broadband lines.

However, in a report released Sunday, the Pew Internet Project says that the broadband gap — while still significant — is narrowing between rural dwellers and those who live in urban and suburban areas.

In 2003, only 9 percent of rural residents had home broadband service. Their city counterparts were more than twice as likely to have service — 21 percent for urban dwellers and 23 percent for suburban dwellers.

By the end of 2005, the percentage of rural residents with broadband had more than doubled, to 24 percent. Urban and suburban penetration had gone up somewhat less, to 38 percent and 40 percent respectively, an increase of two thirds or less.

Even so, suburban and urban penetration made the most gains in percentage points, underlying the fact that America has a long way to go to give rural areas the same access to high-speed service that many urbanized areas enjoy.

"Rural broadband users are no different than home high-speed users elsewhere; they go online more often and do more online activities than dial-up users," said the report's principal author, John B. Horrigan.

"But with a lower proportion of broadband users in rural America than elsewhere, the result is that rural Americans, in aggregate, have a more distant relationship with the Internet than urban and suburban Americans," said Horrigan, Pew Internet Project associate director.

Rural homes often are too far from telephone company offices to get service, and they usually aren't served by cable companies. That leaves them with few options for high-speed service.

One possibility is for Internet service from satellite providers, but at a substantial cost.

Electric utilities have investigated "broadband over power line" service that would deliver the Internet through electrical outlets. But its use has been hampered by technological issues, particularly potential interference with radio signals by amateur radio operators and others.

Wireless companies have begun offering Internet service in some rural communities, but its spread is still limited.

AT&T Inc. announced earlier this month that it plans to make DSL (digital subscriber line) available at all its central offices, including those in small towns, by the end of 2006.

However, the speed of a DSL line falls steadily as it goes out from a switching office, meaning that residents beyond three miles or more still would not be able to get DSL.

That means that a lot of rural homes must rely on dial-up service, which is significantly slower than broadband service.

A low-speed connection is directly tied to the level of Internet usage, the report said. "In fact, having a high-speed connection at home is the single largest explanatory factor behind intensity of online use."