I have seen several articles out today regarding the slowing of adoption of broadband in the U.S. I find the theory that sales are “stalling” to be a bit suspect.
I, through the grace of some miracle, have high-end DSL (6-8 down, 3-5 up) in my semi-rural location. A friend who lives in the heart of the Big City near me can only get the lowest end DSL in her neighborhood, despite the fact that there is a substation less than a mile from her home. She would love to have higher speed, but the infrastructure isn’t there for it. My mother has complained for years about dialup; she lives in a semi-rural area as well and can’t stay online long enough to check mail most of the time. Yesterday, I took her to the local AT&T store and got her set up with 3G broadband wireless for her laptop. She is thrilled and I’ve gotten a couple dozen emails from her in the last 24 hours.
My dad can get DSL, but neither of my brothers can. Both of them are in semi-rural areas, and one is using microwave through a utility provider, the other simple dialup. It is frustrating to both of them. Many of my neighbors and those living with the surrounding suburbs of my Big City can get Charter cable broadband, but it is unreliable and there are frequent outages. This is why I opted for DSL years ago and continue to stay with it. We don’t have Clearwire, Fios, or anything else available to compete, which is not unusual for many parts of the country.
So when broadband providers say that adoption rates are slow, or stalling, I have to wonder. Where we want broadband, it doesn’t exist, What are they using to measure with? Are they even considering that people in rural areas or semi-rural areas might want/need broadband but because it’s not available, there is nothing to “adopt?” I find the figures extremely suspect.
Another wrench in their monkeyed-up numbers could also be the availability of free wireless all over my metropolitan area. Being the home of Panera Bread, there are literally dozens of stores where you can get wireless. Because AT&T is the phone service provider in the St. Louis area, their wireless is available at virtually every McDonald’s and Barnes and Noble for free. Most independent coffee shops offer free wireless, as do all of the libraries, college campuses (public and private), and some restaurants. Within five miles of my house there are at least a dozen places I can go to get free wireless with no time restrictions. I know that most of my student workers use our on-campus or other free wireless and have no service at home; this works well for them and certainly fits their budget.
But I know there are people in rural and semi-rural areas that would be happy to pay for broadband, if it were available. The prices are about the same as dialup, so cost is not really a factor. The fact is, it isn’t available, so no amount of being willing or able to pay will make the broadband magically appear. I know from personal experience how frustrating this is.
I think this is just another excuse for broadband providers to use in order not to upgrade their infrastructure. I continue to be disappointed at their slow-as-molasses development in this area. If it can be done in Europe, it can be done here. If it can be done in India, for goodness’ sake, it can be done here.