That’s why I’m taken aback to continue to see surveys such as this one issued today by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project that take a decidedly retrospective view of telecommunications services with their late 1990s distinction between narrowband (dialup) Internet connectivity and “high speed” broadband connections.
Dialup service is obsolete and can no longer be considered a
useful form of premises Internet connectivity. Had this survey been done in
2000 when the distinction between narrowband and broadband was still relevant,
the distinction might have meant something. In 2013, it is a distinction
without a difference.
The other major contextual problem with a survey like this
is it concentrates only on computer-based services such as Web browsing and email.
That’s also a major flaw in the survey. The Internet now delivers video and voice services including
applications such as online learning, videoconferencing and telemedicine – none
of which are truly usable via a dialup service.
2 comments:
I prefer to talk about "little broadband" and "big broadband." "Little" broadband is the typical residential or small business connection that is widely available today, via DSL or cable modem, and is typically just a few megabits of bandwidth. "Big" broadband starts at a minimum 100 megabit connection, and jumps to the increasingly common Gigabit connection, with the availability of a fully symmetric connection (equal upload and download bandwidth). I agree that dial-up is equivalent to "no broadband."
British Telecom is phasing out dialup this month.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2291941/bt-is-shutting-down-its-dialup-data-network
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