RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Broadband besides DSL or cable

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Tue, 1 May 2001, Spurling, Shannon  wrote:

> Yeah, there are all kinds of neat things out there, but are they
> offered or practical? Answer is usually no. If it's not used a whole
> lot, it's going to be expensive, or not offered. 

Yes, that's what markets are all about, alas...

> I bet IDSL is not offered. Took long enough to get them to do ADSL,
> and that's only because there was a large market. 

Well, if IDSL is less ambitious in its capabilities, it's possible that
it will be offered in places where full-blown ADSL will take a long while
to offer.  The ADSL story turns out to be very complicated and full of
intrigue.  In the short run, it's frustrating for everybody, but in the 
long run, I suspect we'll see the phone system's infrastructure *slowly*
converge towards universal access for this.  But the only reason why that
will happen is that wireless is otherwise going to end up eating the local
phone business for lunch.  I suspect it will be quite a while before
wireless 'net access is cheap or available enough to copmete there.

> Once you get outside of town, the number of people per square mile who
> want a service like this, or will pay for it, drop off dramatically.

And that's not just true for Columbia itself, but everywhere.  Yes, and
this I think is going to turn out to be just fascinating.  For years,
people have been moving to ever more distant suburbs (and then they even
invented the word "exurb") in the belief that everything they could ever
want and more would be available miles away from anything.  It would be
deliciously ironic if high-speed internet access turned out to be thing
that slowed or stopped that trend, given that the internet was "supposed
to" make place irrelevant.  But, hey, I now have met more than a few
people who have made housing purchase (or even re-location) decisions
based in part on the availability of high-speed access, and until wireless
really gets there and gets there cheap, those technologies *strongly*
favor larger cities and towns over Random Village, USA.

Or maybe just the opposite; if enough people demand high-speed access from
the boondocks, it might speed the whole process up.  But, right now, it
looks like satellite internet access will cost about $100 per month (when
you amortize all costs) while ADSL and cable will probably be pushing on
$30 per month by the end of the year.  The $70 per month difference is on
the order what you'd pay extra on a mortgage for a house that is $10,000
more expensive on the market.  That ain't chopped liver on the lower end
of things.

jking



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