The Race to 100% Internet Usage

Love to see it. I have a dream that one day internet will be accessible everywhere and by everyone!

slates said:

Love to see it. I have a dream that one day internet will be accessible everywhere and by everyone!

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Yeah, that's a good dream. Internet should be considered a vital utility at this point, given the extent to which it is needed for just about everything these days.

top ten countries all secular liberal

Omniscient said:

top ten countries all secular liberal

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Hmm... the top two have populations of 0.4M and 5.4M respectively and are both fairly small in area.

ttwtt78640 said:

Hmm... the top two have populations of 0.4M and 5.4M respectively and are both fairly small in area.

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Yeah...Canada was surprising to find so high up the ladder, though. Like, legitimately. I do know we've put a LOT of money into getting there, though - a lot of line of sight technology being put in rural areas, which, to put it rather bluntly, has been pretty garbage. But I guess it's better than dial up...sometimes...lol...

While I generally don't like to air our dirty laundry with so many Americans around (tee hee), having internet and having GOOD internet up here are two very different things. I've got enough internet to pay my bills, get the news, watch a bit of Netflix, and talk **** about American politics, but it's far from fast and reliable.

Edited to add: I live in the boonies. City internet is about what you'd expect in America.

Surprised South Korea is so low

I would have expected they would have been in first place. A smaller densely populated country that is a world leader in the electronics sector. It also has the fastest overall internet speed to my knowledge. I wonder if they are counting those that use WIFI rather than home internet?

My mistake, I thought it was a picture and not a video

OlNate said:

Yeah...Canada was surprising to find so high up the ladder, though. Like, legitimately. I do know we've put a LOT of money into getting there, though - a lot of line of sight technology being put in rural areas, which, to put it rather bluntly, has been pretty garbage. But I guess it's better than dial up...sometimes...lol...

While I generally don't like to air our dirty laundry with so many Americans around (tee hee), having internet and having GOOD internet up here are two very different things. I've got enough internet to pay my bills, get the news, watch a bit of Netflix, and talk **** about American politics, but it's far from fast and reliable.

Edited to add: I live in the boonies. City internet is about what you'd expect in America.

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Our home internet service, via the Spectrum cable TV company, is very fast and reliable. When away from home, my girlfriend has an iPhone which acts as a "hot spot" to supply internet to her iPad or ROKU (for watching stuff on TV in our travel trailer) - when getting internet serivce like that, of course, its speed varies based on her cellphone connection.

ttwtt78640 said:

Our home internet service, via the Spectrum cable TV company, is very fast and reliable. When away from home, my girlfriend has an iPhone which acts as a "hot spot" to supply internet to her iPad or ROKU (for watching stuff on TV in our travel trailer) - when getting internet serivce like that, of course, its speed varies based on her cellphone connection.

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hehe...yeah, I mean, if I absolutely have to download something large in a hurry, I'll switch to my phone hotspot, which greatly outperforms the 5 mbit/sec DSL internet we have in my little village. I have, however, heard rumors that we are getting CABLE INTERNET soon...lol... The town will likely hold a parade and declare a holiday, and that's for 2010 technology...lol...

OlNate said:

Yeah, that's a good dream. Internet should be considered a vital utility at this point, given the extent to which it is needed for just about everything these days.

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Agree 100%

COVID will help reinvigorate web growth.

On a personal note, I was giddy AF to see them start into my neighborhood with fiber over the last couple weeks. Hopefully they will get to my street in the next year or two. They have a lot of infrastructure to work around in the ground between where they are and my road.

OlNate said:

Yeah, that's a good dream. Internet should be considered a vital utility at this point, given the extent to which it is needed for just about everything these days.

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Considering how important it is in disasters, national events like the CV19 pandemic, safety and basic communication, business, schooling and socializing, to prevent panic and provide info, it should be considered absolutely essential infrastructure, along with power.

OTOH, do we want to be dependent on the govt running it all? I'd still prefer it in "regulated" private hands. (Yes, I know you're in Canada.)

This is the barely coherent and grammatically inept speech of a man who desperately wants to be able to claim that he "cured coronavirus."

That's it, in a nutshell. When we do get a handle on this crisis, he wants to be able to pull out footage and declare "I called it! I said use this! I said try this! I told them to do this, it was my idea!" He's just doing it with lots of stupid stuff because he doesnt want to miss an opportunity. He's afraid 'the big one' will be mentioned and he wont get credit for it.

It's all about declaring himself the savior of the cv crisis and we'll hear all about it, esp in his campaign. (Which is basically each of his press briefings these days) --- Lursa

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Lursa said:

Considering how important it is in disasters, national events like the CV19 pandemic, safety and basic communication, business, schooling and socializing, to prevent panic and provide info, it should be considered absolutely essential infrastructure, along with power.

OTOH, do we want to be dependent on the govt running it all? I'd still prefer it in "regulated" private hands. (Yes, I know you're in Canada.)

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lol...well, I know I'd rather have my government handle it, but I understand your concerns. It's a tough one, because in a perfect world, all utilities would be provided ona not-for-profit basis, and the only organization that could do that would be a government. But that only works if you trust your government, and America traditionally does not, no matter who is in power. I see this as the greatest hurdle to effective socialism in America in general, not just this. So I think your proposition of it being in "regulated" private hands is the best approach - I'd add subsidized on there as well, but I agree. That way the communications company could at least appeal to the public through the media, if the government started acting shady....well, sort of, given the general distrust you guys have got going on with the media now. Hrmm. Well, I guess you gotta hope for the best, and be prepared to tolerate at least a little corruption...damn, it's amazing how many conversations around American policy and economics end that way, isn't it?

But, yeah, despite the rambling response, I guess I agree with you. Which sucks, because simply having a competent, trustworthy government running all your utilities, including the internet, would be the best way to provide it for you reliably and affordably...which is kinda what you want with your utilities.

OlNate said:

Yeah, that's a good dream. Internet should be considered a vital utility at this point, given the extent to which it is needed for just about everything these days.

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What is vital is the WWW protocol. The Internet has been around for 52 years, but the WWW has only been around for 31 years. Before the WWW you had to know Archie, Veronica, and the Gopher protocol. I started using the Internet in 1979 when I was going to the University of Minnesota. The major universities were effectively the "ISP" at that time, and connection speeds were 1,200 baud.

For more than 20 years only academics, federal government employees, and computer geeks used the Internet. When the WWW protocol was developed in 1989 and the first browsers developed, the Internet finally began being used by the general public.

There is also a danger being addicted to vulnerable technology, like the Internet. If there is another CME, like we had during the 1859 Carrington Event, then not only will you lose access to the Internet, but also all electricity for at least the next decade, maybe longer. So if you find yourself unable to live without technology you might as well sign yourself up for a Darwin Award.

Glitch said:

What is vital is the WWW protocol. The Internet has been around for 52 years, but the WWW has only been around for 31 years. Before the WWW you had to know Archie, Veronica, and the Gopher protocol. I started using the Internet in 1979 when I was going to the University of Minnesota. The major universities were effectively the "ISP" at that time, and connection speeds were 1,200 baud.

For more than 20 years only academics, federal government employees, and computer geeks used the Internet. When the WWW protocol was developed in 1989 and the first browsers developed, the Internet finally began being used by the general public.

There is also a danger being addicted to vulnerable technology, like the Internet. If there is another CME, like we had during the 1859 Carrington Event, then not only will you lose access to the Internet, but also all electricity for at least the next decade, maybe longer. So if you find yourself unable to live without technology you might as well sign yourself up for a Darwin Award.

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Anyone can live without technology...but doing so would mean that society would have broken down...lol... In the meantime, if you wish to participate in society, you absolutely need the internet. I mean, I don't think I pay a single bill where the company is even willing to send a paper bill anymore. There is no choice. :shrug:

OlNate said:

Anyone can live without technology...but doing so would mean that society would have broken down...lol... In the meantime, if you wish to participate in society, you absolutely need the internet. I mean, I don't think I pay a single bill where the company is even willing to send a paper bill anymore. There is no choice. :shrug:

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We managed to get along just fine without electricity since civilization began. It has only been in the last ~120 years that electricity has become a vital resource that we can't live without. When society becomes so dependent upon a vulnerable resource, it deserves to be broken down, repeatedly. There will be more Carrington Event CMEs in our future, that is guaranteed. It is only a question of "when" not "if." Let's hope that we develop a defense before that happens, or it will destroy society, at least in the big cities. Those living in small towns or in rural areas will have a much easier time of it because their infrastructure is less dependent on electricity or have the means to generate their own electricity.

Glitch said:

We managed to get along just fine without electricity since civilization began. It has only been in the last ~120 years that electricity has become a vital resource that we can't live without. When society becomes so dependent upon a vulnerable resource, it deserves to be broken down, repeatedly. There will be more Carrington Event CMEs in our future, that is guaranteed. It is only a question of "when" not "if." Let's hope that we develop a defense before that happens, or it will destroy society, at least in the big cities. Those living in small towns or in rural areas will have a much easier time of it because their infrastructure is less dependent on electricity or have the means to generate their own electricity.

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lol...not where I live. I swear, on our little community fb group, at least 60% of the posts are either bitching about our terrible internet, or looking for recommendations for decent internet. Most of the farmers have gotten rid of their 1800's plow setup, in favor of GPS driven tractors and harvesters, which rely on the Internet in a number of ways. I think if you were to suddenly remove the internet and electricity, we'd survive, but only some of us. We have become far too reliant on it, which puts it solidly into the realm of appropriateness for government to have a heavy hand in it's distribution and pricing, in the same way it does many utilities (speaking from a Canadian perspective, not exactly sure what percentage of American infrastructure and utilities have government oversight or ownership).

slates said:

Love to see it. I have a dream that one day internet will be accessible everywhere and by everyone!

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"Access" and "usage" are two very different things. Unfortunately, the video doesn't make clear exactly what it is measuring or where the data comes from (an all too common error with the focus is on creating eye-catching visuals). There are some key questions as to what we should actually be aiming for in relation to internet access around the world and accurate data is important if those questions are going to be properly addressed.

HonestJoe said:

"Access" and "usage" are two very different things. Unfortunately, the video doesn't make clear exactly what it is measuring or where the data comes from (an all too common error with the focus is on creating eye-catching visuals). There are some key questions as to what we should actually be aiming for in relation to internet access around the world and accurate data is important if those questions are going to be properly addressed.

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True, even if one home in a county has internet access the county is looked as having access, not to mention that some of the access available is so slow it is darn near useless. When we talk about having access it should imply high speed access and accessible by all.

OlNate said:

lol...not where I live. I swear, on our little community fb group, at least 60% of the posts are either bitching about our terrible internet, or looking for recommendations for decent internet. Most of the farmers have gotten rid of their 1800's plow setup, in favor of GPS driven tractors and harvesters, which rely on the Internet in a number of ways. I think if you were to suddenly remove the internet and electricity, we'd survive, but only some of us. We have become far too reliant on it, which puts it solidly into the realm of appropriateness for government to have a heavy hand in it's distribution and pricing, in the same way it does many utilities (speaking from a Canadian perspective, not exactly sure what percentage of American infrastructure and utilities have government oversight or ownership).

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If you want terrible Internet access try living in Bethel, AK. They use a microwave transmitter/receiver to access the Internet at a whopping speed of 56Kbaud. They are not connected to the fiber optic cable that runs to the lower-48 from Alaska.

As far as our machines are concerned we really would only have to go back to ~1990s technology, before they started adding computers to vehicles. My 1987 Nisan pickup, for example, that I use for hauling my household trash to the landfill will function just fine after a massive CME, once I replace the battery, distributor, and starter. Those are the only electrical components on the entire vehicle, besides the radio.

We could use our own individual biogasification process to generate our electricity, but that only works if you live where you have access to several acres of wooded wilderness. So it would not be exactly like reverting back to 1900. However, it would be a completely different story in big cities. Cities without power are death traps, and they have no means of generating their own power.

Without electricity big cities would be a nightmare to be anywhere near. Those who are not able to get out of these big cities within 72 hours will most likely die. Crime waves would begin within the first hour of losing power. They would have no food, no water, no waste disposal, nothing. Big cities can only exist if there is lots of electricity feeding it.

If we were smart, which we most certainly are not, we would shut down the entire electrical grid for 48 to 72 hours as soon as we detected a CME bigger than X-30. Fortunately we are watching the sun 24/7 these days, so we would know. It is better to go without power for two or three days than not shut off the grid and have it completely destroyed by the CME. It would take a decade or longer to replace every blown-out transformer world-wide if they don't shut down the grid.

Those of us who are older than 40 will be able to function much easier than the 20-somethings because they will have experienced the world without the WWW protocol and our utter dependence on computers.