I don't think so, I'd have to check my server stats but I think that most of them have high speed internet access.
And I never did any research or anything to get into my niche. I found myself helping my friends to set up simple websites and I realized that other people might want the same help. I'm not a writer, so instead I just wrote software for the same group. It worked out for me.
Did you qualify your niche the same way - by reading newsgroups?