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We Don't Need No Stinkin' Broadband
Ant writes "eMarketer has an article on The Yankee Group's analysis on why some Americans aren't feeling the broadband love. It was based on Ipsos Public Affairs. 45% of Americans say it's simply too expensive. 30% say that they just don't want it. 14% say they feel dial-up is adequate for their needs. Less than 10% are not able to get broadband access in their area. Five percent insist broadband is "too complicated". Another 5% aren't even sure why they don't have it..."
29% of broadband users needed to refresh Slashdot more rapidly so that they could obtain a first post.
is that once you try it, you can not go back to dialup.
If you haven't had broadband yet and only dialup, upgrading doesn't seem necessary. But once you've experienced the speed of broadband and the convenience of not having to dial up and log in, you'll never want to go back.
'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' II Corinthians 5:7
I'm still on dial-up, as I have been for the last 8 years (at this address.) I see offers come and go, but they still boil down to an eventual rate of about $50/mo. I only need that speed now and then and it's hard to justify.
It's about the same with me as it has been with cell phones. I've had those 3 different times and always cancelled because I was shelling $35+/month and using the phone for less than 10 minutes a month. Only when seeking a new job or apartment do they seem genuinely necessary. I've got a pay-as-you-go plan now and I used about 20 minutes a month for each of December and January, so this is much more to my liking of ~$10/month. For service.
I'd like high speed for downloading Microsoft's bloated patches (why are these things always 15 MB? for a "few" fixes?) or the latest virus scan patterns (again, why are these things 5-10 MB?) Seems there's always a hell of a lot more than seems necessary, but I suppose developers of today didn't grow up trying to maximize 8K and could care less how much shit is in things as it's not their problem. For the most part, I get by and that's all I need.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
14.4k was for the rich, and we were lucky enough to even own a computer! Harrumph, these techie-wizbang whipper snappers...downloading everything in sight, always wanting things FASTER and FASTER!. Harrumph I say.
Old people.......have mod points too. Good luck.
Table-ized A.I.
The reason for the lackluster demand is that animated gifs make perfectly good porn. Most porn is just back and forth movements of the same kind over and over. Animated gifs can repeat the same 10 frames over and over for the same effect. What is needed is to transform people into a species that has more varied sexual movements, such as figure 8's that morph into W's, etc. Butterflies have the right idea; they do it in the air in a frenzied dizzy kind of sky dance (although JavaScript may be able to mimic this without lots of frames). As usual, the real problem is the damned humans. Until the marketing department figures this out, they will continue to drive Honda Civics.
Table-ized A.I.
I think you are a bit mistaken about broadband penetration outside the US.
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a pita-income-vs-broadband-uptake.gif
e -broadband-map-q2-2005.jpg
*Especially* outside the US broadband is more the norm than the exception since the late 1990's.
Some facts (based on Q3 2005 numbers):
80% of the South-Koreans have broadband, 75% of Hong Kong, 60% of Israel, 60% of Taiwan, ~57% of Singapore, 55% of The Netherlands, 53% of Monaco, 53% of Canada, 51% of Switzerland, and 50% of Denmark. (source: http://www.marketingfacts.nl/images/uploads/20060
The following is also interesting to see: http://www.marketingfacts.nl/images/uploads/per-c
Growth broadband in percentage first half year of 2005: http://www.marketingfacts.nl/images/uploads/europ
And Eastern Europe is very active right now revamping a lot of their telecommunication systems so that will mean that in the coming time their broadband penetration will soar as well.
Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai
The killer app is the same as it is always has been since the invention of the internet.
Pornography.
Yes, many jobs will require Internet access. Many jobs today require Internet access. But are you seriously going to tell me that day laborers or fast food restaurant workers are going to need access to the Internet in order to do their jobs?
"How long will banking without the internet be reasonable?"
Probably for a very long time. Unless banks can find a way to print money over the Internet, ATMs and physical banks will need to continue to exist.
"When will doing your taxes without it become impractical?"
Its not that hard to fill out a W-2 form. And even with tax programs, you are still going to need to enter the same information. If your taxes are a bit more complex, those programs are very useful, but not everyone is going to need that.
"any more than I can really comprehend people who don't use ATMs."
Well that just means you are not very good at comprehending other people's lifestyles.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.