'Bandwidth Divide' Could Bar Some From Free Online Courses

An anonymous reader writes "The Bandwidth Divide is a form of what economists call the Red Queen effect referring to a scene in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass when Alice races the Red Queen. As the Red Queen tells Alice: 'It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!' Keeping up with digital technology is like that race — it takes a continual investment of money and time just to keep up with the latest, and an exceptional amount of work to get ahead of the pack. 'The question is, What is the new basic?' said one researcher. 'There will always be inequality. But 100 years after the introduction of the car, not everybody has a Ferrari, but everyone has access to some form of motorized transportation through buses.' Well, not everyone, but even fewer people have the online equivalent. Colleges considering MOOCs should remember that."

Comments

Universal Service for Broadband

[Anonymous Coward]

I find it Intereresting and disturbing that in the US we provide "Universal Service" for many old technologies - US Mail, Analog Telephones, and T1s, but we don't even have a discussion about universal broadband.

Re:Universal Service for Broadband

[Rockoon]

So, no, not everybody has access to basic broadband service if they want it, 1.5mbps was barely acceptable 10 years ago.

Thats almost twice the bandwidth needed for 480p youtube as tested just moments ago using the free educational video made by sixtysymbols on transistors (link to video)

Note that the MAXIMUM quality of these videos is 480p, and the final raw badwidth count (includes packet overhead and so on) was 98.1KB/sec which is about 785kbps.

It seems to me and I think I have shown it to be true that people are actually crying about the availability of highest quality media, and not so much access. That these two distinct things get equated is the consequence of people so easily stooping into the realm of intellectual dishonesty in the name of wants instead of needs.

Re:Universal Service for Broadband

[grcumb]

I find it Intereresting and disturbing that in the US we provide "Universal Service" for many old technologies - US Mail, Analog Telephones, and T1s, but we don't even have a discussion about universal broadband.

That's all well and good, and I agree that access to internet should be taken as a basic service, but did nobody else notice the real evil in this story:

The e-textbooks used in the project, run by the Fairfax County Public Schools, worked only when students were online—and some features required fast connections.

Why the fuck was there not an offline version of this textbook? I don't want to go all Stallmannite, but the problem right here is not lack of bandwidth. The problem here is a fucking textbook that can't be downloaded and used offline.

Re:Internet = Utility

[BradleyUffner]

Yea cause heavily regulated utilities are such a great example of efficient operation as well as champions of innovation.

I don't want innovation from my ISP. All I want from them is an unfiltered, public IP Address, at the bandwidth they advertised.

Re:Internet = Utility

[PopeRatzo]

Let the phone, tablet and computer industries innovate.

All we need from the ISPs is bandwidth, which is delivered via wires on public land or via public airwaves.

They shouldn't be delivering content, selling ads or partnering with handset manufacturers.

Since the big telcos have proved they are incapable of functioning in a free market, then they need to become public utilities. The last thing we need is any of them getting any bigger.

Re:Internet = Utility

[PopeRatzo]

Wait, you think it was ISPs that pioneered faster connection speeds? They fought it every step of the way because they didn't understand it.

Without the regulations, the big broadband providers would turn the Internet into cable television. They had their chance to create a real worldwide network, and gave us "bundles" of channels where we have to pay for stuff we don't want to protect their revenues. Do you forget how they had to scramble to catch up with the Internet? What the hell do you think they "innovated"?

The big ISPs are a threat to anything like a free market. The last thing they want is competition.