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Report: Broadband Too Expensive For Many
An anonymous submitter writes "This AP article, citing a study from the U.S. Commerce Department, reports that "Almost all U.S. families live in areas where a high-speed Internet connection is available, but many see no compelling reason to pay extra for it." The article mentions a survey that found that "more than 70 percent of dial-up users cited cost as the main reason they aren't upgrading to faster access."" It's much like digital cable - the cable networks ratch up the price for...music channels? But broadband is a chicken - egg problem. You won't get people signing up until they see a reason, and you won't get compelling reasons until more people have signed up.
A report with similar conclusions has been
isssued from MIT's department of the bleeding
obvious.
Not enough quality digital entertainment, like movies and TV shows, are being offered over broadband connections to make them worth it to normal users.
For example, when I've tried to find good movies to watch on my computer, most of the time the very newest movies that movie companies are making available are not worth the download. They usually look like someone sat in a theater with a video camera and taped it by hand, which I admit is capturing the experience of going to a real movie, but just isn't what I'm expecting when I can go down to the Blockbuster and get older movies on DVD that have sharper picture and much better sound. Some of the older movies I've found online are very clear, but then they look identical to what I can rent (or buy) at local stores, so the download seems kind of a waste of time. Not to mention that some parts of the movie files aren't always there, and I end up requesting "fills".
And the advertisements that I see in the download area where I get the movies are usually not the kinds of things I'm interested in. I'm not really sure that they should be putting those kinds of adverts right beside, say, the latest Harry Potter film download. Barnyard stuff just isn't my cup of tea, if you get my drift.
I don't know what kind of company this USENET outfit is, but the movie companies should ditch them ASAP and get a real online movie distribution system.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
Once Joe Sixpack is able to get DSL, stupid web "designers" will bloat their pages even more, little MacKenzie will register great domain names to show us pictures of her Barbies and little Billy will set up his UT bot, preventing us from having any fun.
I say keep the price high. It keeps out the losers.
Reminds me a customer that called our ISP to sign up. He asked if he could get the Internet on floppies instead of a CD because he didn't have a CDROM drive.
Yeah, but the latency is horrible. Last time I tried to download something from NetFlix it took two days before the first packet arrived.
"Downloading Pr0n from USENET for Dummies."
One thing that I try to impress upon people about distilled spirits is that when you have a bottle, you will do _more_ than just have a social cocktail once or twice a week. When you've got a stash of booze in the house, it suddenly makes sense to have an aperitif before dinner, a couple of drinks to wash the food down, a nightcap to help you get to sleep, an eye-opener in the morning to get you going, and so on.
Of course, you may argue that it's silly to compare Internet access with liquor, but I do not think the comparison is entirely inapt. Both can addict people who find themselves turning to the Internet (as to alcohol) to deal with the smallest details of daily living: "Gee, a friend of mine told me about a movie coming out on Friday. I'd better spend an hour reading online reviews of it first."
Perhaps television offers a more apt comparison. Spring the big bucks for cable TV and, if you're at all of an indolent or sedentary disposition, you _will_ find yourself watching it all the time. But will your life really be improved thereby?
hyacinthus.
At the moment it isn't because there isn't much practical use for it, i.e., insuffient compelling content.
/. isn't compelling content!???
You mean
The Anti-Blog