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No Broadband, No Growth?

Telecommuter Tips - Training the Boss

The New Power Of Advertising

Ten Motivational Tips for a Successful Home Based Business

So you Want to Work At Home?

Network Marketing and the Net

Feng Shui for the Home Office

Ten Tips to Evaluate a MLM Opportunity

No Broadband, No Growth?

by K. Laskowski © March 2002

Is lack of ubiquitous broadband access the cause for our economic slowdown woes? It certainly is the cause for my 'slow download' woes. And it is the reason I don't use flash on any of my websites. I never have the patience to wait for a flash presentation to load on sites I visit. And there are millions in my shoes.

Lack of high-speed access creates bottlenecks in remote access to the corporate resources I use in my day job too. Since I am a full-time telecommuter, and a part-time net-preneur, I have been looking into alternatives for my home office for the last two years - eagerly awaiting the day that DSL would be available. I don't see that day coming any time soon. And the affordable alternative, cable, doesn't exist in my rural area. My only option is satellite - which right now would take around $1000 to get set up, plus a hefty monthly fee. And it doesn't work in bad weather, so I'd still need a dial-up ISP for backup. So I'm waiting...

Without universal high-speed access, the evolution of the net is at a standstill. And according to experts at George Washington University, without broadband access, the Internet's "contribution to the acceleration in economic growth may soon end." And it's easy to understand -- online transactions that now take 15 minutes could take less than 5, sites that could use flash or streaming video aren't (or if they are, no one waits to see them), downloads clog the net because that 'last leg' is so slow.

And universal broadband would have huge implications for business in general. When you add home videoconferencing to efficient access to corporate databases and other high-bandwidth resources, the work environment can be redefined and widespread telecommuting becomes a real possibility.

The US is currently seventh in the list of home-broadband use, behind Canada, Sweden, and current leader South Korea. It is predicted that over the next three years, the US will fall to ninth based on the current rates of DSL deployment.

The FCC is aware of the problem, and is slowly taking steps to change current regulations (i.e. the Telecom Act of 96) that have discouraged DSL rollout by the large local networks. All but a few of the startup DSL providers are now extinct. A standstill scenario.

I liken this to the early days of telephone networks, where lines from myriad mini-telcos criss-crossed the city skies. And rural areas had no phone service at all. Same thing with electricity in it's early days. The only reason rural areas have internet access now is because it is provided over the existing phone lines. If new infrastructure is required, it is the rural areas that always lose. It was that bad word 'regulated monopoly' that created the incentive to push phone service to everyone everywhere in the US. Is that what it will take to get universal high-speed internet to everyone?

I don't know -- and I don't think the experts or the FCC do either.