It's no longer 1996: Outdated perceptions of the Internet persist

There remains a major misapprehension in the United States -- in the nation that invented it -- that the Internet is only about email and websites when in fact it delivers Internet Protocol TV and movies. It's also the updated version of Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) over copper to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). And that's not even mentioning videoconferencing, telehealth and distance learning. All can be delivered simultaneously over a single fiber optic connection.

Nevertheless, there remain many media accounts such as this one from Minnesota Public Radio that would have readers believe it's still circa 1996 when the Internet was a relative novelty (then mostly accessed via AOL over dialup connections). A decade and a half ago, it was understandable that as this January 17, 2012 MPR story reports there were "Many people don't believe there's anything on the Internet they need." That was a relevant perception back then. But it's badly outdated in 2012.

Video conferencing vaporware

The San Jose Mercury News reports Cisco Systems is collaborating with phone and cable carriers on products and services that would allow people to video conference using their televisions. Built on Cisco's TelePresence corporate-video conferencing system, the consumer version will debut within 12 months, the newspaper reported today.

Um, I don't think so. Short of a crash program to wire up homes throughout the United States with fiber optic connections over the next year, this is pure vaporware. Given the pathetic state of last mile Internet connectivity that can barely support low quality YouTube video, the key question is got bandwidth? The answer: nope and not likely except for that small slice of the nation that has fiber to the premises.

In many respects, we're not much closer to ubiquitous videoconferencing than we were nearly 50 years ago when Ma Bell demonstrated the first videophone at the 1960 World's Fair.