Let’s note from the beginning that, while I intend to cry and complain a bit in this post, I acknowledge that I have it better than many others and that my bandwidth concerns are not huge in the grand scheme of things. Now that that’s out of the way… I’m really jealous of some of you. I envy your bandwidth options.
Kentucky has this really nice mapping tool that lets you find your residence and gives you a good bit of detail regarding broadband options. Unfortunately, it’s only as accurate as the data provided by service providers. At one time, this map would tell me that I have DSL and cable modem access. As of this morning, the map indicates that I have no DSL availability. In truth, I have neither DSL nor cable modem as an Internet option. I live ‘in the sticks’ and my options consist of dial-up Internet access or a solution based on satellite or cellular communications. I haven’t always lived here, though, and was a DSL customer for several years. Somewhat like the ‘free doughnuts‘ story, circumstances changed, it’s really hard to forget how things were and my relative expectations have been set. To different degrees, we’re all struggling with this where bandwidth and data is concerned.
I want a reasonable price for Internet service. The first problem is that everyone’s definition of ‘reasonable’ is based on what they have previously paid and/or their knowledge on what others pay or have paid. In my area, DSL and cable modem services run somewhere around $40-50/month, depending on the provider and plan you choose. In my own head, I deem that ‘reasonable’ based on what I paid in the past. If I lived in Kansas City and Google were to choose to light up my neighborhood with fiber, I may have options of $70/month for Gigabit service or a free (after $300 one-time construction charge) 5 Mbps service. They’re redefining ‘reasonable’ price.
Since I mentioned ‘gigabit’ and 5Mbps, I’d better mention reasonable speed. Dial-up, in today’s day and time, is not a ‘reasonable’ speed option for me in my line of work. Depending on your needs, dial-up is considered an unreasonable option for most Internet users today. Our expectations have been adjusted over the years, as Internet users of 10 years ago might not have minded the scratches and tones that led you to the eventual blazing speed of 56Kbps Internet access. The DSL and cable options in my area advertise speeds of around 6Mbps (for DSL) and 10-20Mbps (for cable). Those plans may run in the $40-50/month range. I use satellite service and currently pay $69.95/month for 1Mbps (down) service. It doesn’t seem reasonable to me and, importantly, it doesn’t feel like true broadband service to me. Not anymore.
Thankfully, the FCC agrees and acknowledges that the definition of ‘broadband’ service has changed over the years. They’ve redefined ‘broadband’ as 4Mbps down, 1Mbps up. In the late nineties, 200Kbps was ‘broadband’. So… I’m paying $70/month and not getting broadband service. I should quit while I’m behind. I’m not trying to say that work isn’t ongoing or that improvements haven’t been made, but the appetite for data is exponentially increasing and it’s forcing us all to make some tough decisions… decisions that we haven’t always had to make and decisions that aren’t always very comfortable.
Perhaps my Internet access woes could be compared to my diet woes. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve never had to worry about dieting. I was probably 130 pounds soaking wet while in high school and didn’t gain the ‘freshman 15’ in college, nor did I gain weight immediately when I got married. I’m older now. My metabolism is slowing down (I suppose) and I’m finding that I can’t eat whatever I want – which usually isn’t good for me – and NOT expect it to remain attached to me in the form of love handles or a gut. I’m trying to think more about what I eat and it’s an adjustment that I’m not enjoying. Hold on, though. This was a post about bandwidth and the digital divide.
The products and services available via the Internet, combined with our personal preferences and means we have to consume those products and services, are forcing some of us to have to make tough choices as Internet offerings are rolled out. Most consumers have come to expect the Internet to be an “all you can eat” buffet, exemplified by unlimited data plans. The industry is trying to force us toward a bandwidth diet… a world where we have to think about how much we can ‘eat’ where bandwidth and data is concerned.
Returning to my price/option comparisons, the DSL option is $40-50/month for 6Mbps speed and a recently-instituted cap of 150GB per month of bandwidth usage. The cable option, as best I can find, mentions a 250GB per month cap. My current $69.95/month option, with 1Mbps down, is capped at 15GB of usage per 30 days. What is still unlimited in many cases? Dial-up! Why? Because, at 56Kbps, I can use about 0.6GB after 24 hours of consecutive use. It’s like asking how much steak could you eat at an all-you-can-eat buffet if you were limited to one bite every 20 minutes.
Marty and I have good debates on this topic and one reason is that our perspectives are different. If his Twitter feed is any indication, he may have upgraded to Mountain Lion recently. I won’t bother with a link, but trust me when I tell you that it’s about a 4GB download. That’s probably less than a day’s worth of his home Internet allocation and it’s over 25% of my monthly allocation. I think he uses Netflix (or a similar service) at times. An HD Netflix stream is up to 2.3GB/hour. I can’t even consider a service like that over my satellite connection. There are latency issues as well and I won’t bore you with the details, but my point is that I cannot have a video web conference from my home Internet connection. A DSL/cable user would do this and wouldn’t think twice about it. I’m forced to think about everything on the Internet in terms of how much bandwidth it might consume. That’s my reality and it has been for two years. Others may not be accustomed to that reality, but these conversations are coming.
In an ideal world, I would have hoped to be moving in your direction… toward a place where none of us have to worry about bandwidth usage. Instead, we could be headed to a place where everyone’s reality moves closer to mine, where every decision on the Internet is scrutinized like the nutrition labels that tell me how many calories those really tasty treats have in them. For now, though, I remain jealous of the skinny person that can eat junk food all day without fear of weight gain and those who can do what they want on the Internet without fear of reaching data caps or being overcome with latency or poor performance.