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April 19, 2004
Broadband Is The New Dial-Up
Posted by Dana Blankenhorn
The problem is, however, that there's broadband and then there's broadband.
Phone companies have been catching up with cable lately by dialing-down their speed (crippling it, actually) and luring people into $30/month plans. Compare that to $20-25/month dial-up and it's a deal.
The problem is it's not really braodband. It claims it's broadband, and it's done using the same ADSL technology, but it's deliberately crippled, slowed-down.
And if we define broadband in this dumbed-down fashion, then developers can't create high-bandwidth applications with the expectation their audience can use them.
What we have, then, is a phony market, a market that thinks it's broadband but is, in fact, little more than dial-up.
That's a scandal, but that appears to be the reality. Web developers have to deal with it.
Comments (1)
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Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
1. dan hunt on April 25, 2004 02:48 PM writes...
Dana,
Permalink to CommentWhen will we as a country will we 'fess up' and admit we are third-rate when it comes to broadband and telecommunications ? It's a disgrace ! And really a national security issue with 'dropped' and slow speed connections.
Dan Hunt