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Broadband Majority in US
TheSync writes "NetworkWorldFusion has a report that the majority of US Internet users now connect using broadband, according to NetRatings. There are 63 million broadband users (51%) and 61 million (49%) dial-up users in the US. Broadband was most prevalent among people ages 18 to 20."
There's a very simple reason for this: tech companies, including those offering bandwidth, love to seperate Americans from their money. It's a simple issue of the fact that a good chunk of the American populace is stupid enough to go for whatever they'll sell you at whatever prices you demand, as Americans have money. This mass of money and refusal to know anything outside of where to get food, drink, clothing, and shelter has caused the greedy executives (who know this information from experience) to restrict our bandwidth to super-slow speeds and raise our rates through the roof. Yeah, they make a good profit doing this. Most know that laying the cable isn't as expensive as they make it sound, and that the service isn't too hard to offer. They've seen Europe and Asia. They know what they can do. However, most Americans, who don't leave the country, and in fact barely know that the world isn't defined by our borders, don't know what the Internet providers can do at this time.
Of course, if you need an example of how Americans are more than willing to be ignorant of anything, take a look at our president. He's as willfully ignorant as most Americans. That's why so many people still support him...aside from those who know that their money allows them to control him. It's all a matter of collusion and pocketbook-raping the stupid, overmoneyed Americans.
Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
Kerry said he would raise $30 billion to create high-tech jobs and promote innovation by auctioning to private companies the spectrum made available after more households transfer to digital television.
Was that not already the plan?
I guess it's just politics in action.
According to the Bush commercial I've been seeing, apparently Kerry is in favor of violence against pregnant women, since he voted against the Laci Peterson law.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I live in Ypsilanti, MI, where there's only one cable company, hence the high cable price, and 24k feet from the CO, hence the high price on the fastest DSL I can get - no, I take that back, I think they say I can get 384 SDSL for $100 a month now.
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
Back in late 2000, we were redesigning our corporate internet site (a banking site, mind you). Some psycho in Marketing kept arguing for some Flash spewed monstrosity. When I brought up the issue with increased download times, she said while true, broadband use would skyrocket soon, making the issue moot. I countered with a then just released report from Gartner saying that dialup would still account for 40% of internet users in 2004.
Turns out the number's closer to 50%. However, I still hereby claim gloating rights. Linda, up yours. I was right, you were wrong.
Hell, it excites me a whole lot. Sadly, it presents two problems: one, it has no bearing on the discussion at hand, which deals with how things are today; two, you make dubious assumptions about monopolies and choice.
If we start extrapolating limitlessly then things we say become useless. For instance, in the future, I expect to have the Internet connected wirelessly to my brain. Therefore, 100Mbps is unusably slow. See? We must stick to the matter at hand for discussions to have any meaning.
As to monopolies, your future sound a bit utopian. Remember that the Internet is made up of bits and pieces of hardware that bind (ha!) computers. That hardware is owned by big groups of people whose best interest does not currently lie with real choice and freedom from monopolies.
Cheers,
Morel