25 February 2010
We're Not as Fast as We Think We Are
Comcast pokes fun at those who still have dial-up connections and has even created a website dedicated to The Slowskys (those famous turtles that love the slow pace of their lives and Internet speed).
We joke about those who just haven't "graduated" yet, but do we really understand just how many there are out there?
Crunch Gear reports the following based various recent studies:
According to the FCC, about 93 million Americans don’t use fast, broadband Internet, citing cost and complexity as a factor in their refusal to enter the 20th century.Are you kidding me? That's nearly one third of all Internet users!
I live in a world where television shows and movies can be streamed in high definition to your television! On dial-up you're lucky to bring up most modern websites in under 5 minutes.
With this gap between serving the dial-up community and making use of today's technology ever widening, what are we to do?
At Granger, we chose to push the envelope with our website. Those on dial-up will probably be disappointed if they visit and definitely won't be able to access the media player, on demand services and things like that.
We based our decision on evidence that broadband use in our area is a lot higher than the studies suggest. But when your influence spreads and you become available to the world (via Online Church), it makes you think a bit more about it. And 1/3 of all Internet users is a big number...
At this point I don't have an answer, but I do pray that someday soon hi-speed Internet will be cheap enough and available to everyone. If not by cable - through upcoming technologies like Wi|Max.
