March 2010 Archives

If I had the chance, yes, I would jump at it--and on it.

Only last month, Google announced that they would build experimental fiber-optic networks that will deliver broadband capacity of 1 Gigabit per second --that's roughly 100 times my current throughput--to as many as 500,000 Americans.

Of course, these Americans were not named.

However, more than 1,000 communities and 194,000 individuals across the United States have, since the announcement, approached Google Inc. in hopes of hosting/receiving one of these ultra-fast networks that Google plans to build in only a handful of spots around the country.

Last Friday, March 26, marked the deadline for governments and citizens to express interest--so, yes, I'm too late.

Google reported that the response had been both "tremendous and creative," with various applicants using everything from YouTube videos to Facebook groups to public rallies to attract Google and to promote themselves.

For example, the government of Topeka, Kansas, temporarily renamed the city Google; city officials from Omaha, Council Bluffs and Carter Lake shot a YouTube video; and the mayor of Sarasota, Florida, even went swimming with sharks to impress Google.

Google actually debuted its fiber-to-the-home network last month on a limited basis, explaining that the company was conducting an experiment that should yield a good understanding of how people might utilize a super-fast 1Gbps network connection--(my guess: more and more online games; well, perhaps some productive business applications as well).

Google's product manager, James Kelley, encouraged by the nation's hunger for "better and faster Internet access," wrote in a blog post that the super-fast network would expand into more communities in 2010.

"Now, you shouldn't have to jump into frozen lakes and shark tanks to get ultra-high-speed broadband," Kelly said, "but if one message has come through loud and clear, it's this: People across the country are hungry for better and faster Internet access."

"Over the coming months," Kelley adds, "we'll be reviewing the responses to determine where to build. As we narrow down our choices, we'll be conducting site visits, meeting with local officials and consulting with third-party organizations. Based on a rigorous review of the data, we will announce our target community or communities by the end of the year.

"As we narrow down our choices, we'll be conducting site visits, meeting with local officials, and consulting with third-party organizations," Kelly added.

I am, alas, not a gamer, nor a corporation, so what on earth would I do with 1 GB throughput? I really haven't a clue. With speeds like that, it's not my connection but the remote site(s) that's likely to be the bottleneck.

My two cents says that efforts like these should be scaled down and instead focused on delivering "normal" 10MB or so broadband to every citizen in our country. Then--with the nation, in its entirety, across the bridge--start looking at boosting throughput. End of two cents.

The recently announced National Broadband Plan (NBP) is set to tackle the US digital divide head on.

This divide, once more a fissure of ignorance than access, is now--as the "secret" of broadband access has reached all corners of our nation, and as the need to be connected in many cases are seen as not only a nicety, but future survival--fast becoming one of access only.

I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that the populace as a whole now knows that broadband access is necessary, but discriminating telecom and cable interests have, so far, priced or mapped many communities and potential users out of the market.

Today, if you are not online, in many respects, you are not part of the "current" US population, rather, a walking relic.

The National Broadband Plan, and its intent to protect the rights of online consumers online, takes a large step toward finally bridging the divide.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski confirmed that Net Neutrality--the reverse of the digital divide coin--will in fact serve the unrepresented portion of the country.

In response to a question about whether NBP would address left-out communities and users, he replied:

"Net neutrality is essential for opportunity in all communities, including minority communities.

"If you have an idea for a business or a programming venture, getting on the major getting on the major, traditional communications media landscapes is very difficult.

"We need to figure out ways to open that up, but the opportunities of the future are going to be for someone who has an idea for a business or an idea for a programming venture to be able to get online, to reach an audience, and to build a successful business, whether it's a business or a programming entity.

"So, net neutrality is designed to ensure that everyone, regardless of what community you're from, regardless of your background; that you have an opportunity to get your ideas, your business, your programming, out on the Internet, reach an audience, having it stand or fall on its own merit, without having to deal with roadblocks that are making traditional medial really hard.

"We need to tackle those roadblocks, but we definitely need to keep the Internet free and open, for entrepreneurs and programmers and people with ideas and speakers from every background and community."

Nice words. Let's hope that he--and the FCC--has the digital muscle to follow through.

The BBC online recently posted a fairly comprehensive (and interactive) article on current Internet traffic--the busiest portals, search engines, sites, etc.; reflecting traffic for the month of January 2010, as reported by Nielsen Company.

Here is a snapshot:

Search Engines/Portals

a)   Google leads the pack - 7.35% of all users

b)   MSN Windows Live/Bing - 5.71%

c)   Yahoo! - 4.9%

d)   AOL - 2.69%

e)   Ask - 2.12%

No surprises there, unless you consider the not so very significant gap between MSN and Google (1.64 percentage points, which actually took me a little by surprise, I had expected Google to be WAY out in front).

Social Networks

a)   Facebook - 4.6%

b)   Twitter - 0.89%

c)   Orkut - 0.60%

d)   LinkedIn - 0.51%

e)   Classmates Online - 0.47%

f)    Meebo - 0.46%

I had suspected Twitter to be closing in on Facebook, but it's still a ratio of 1:5, FaceBook the 1,000-pound gorilla here.

Retail Sites

a)   eBay - 2.56%

b)   Amazon - 2.35%

c)   Wal-Mart - 0.75%

d)   Craigslist - 0.75%

e)   Shopzilla - 0.53%

f)    Target - 0.49%

g)   Shopping.com - 0.47%

h)   NexTag - 0.43%

i)     Best Buy - 0.42%

j)    Priceline Network - 0.40%

k)   Free - 0.37%

l)     Sears - 0.36%

eBay and Amazon jockeying for position, with eBay leading; not much of a surprise there.

Media Sites

a)   Fox Interactive - 1.95%

b)   Glam Media - 0.98%

c)   CNN - 0.93%

d)   CBS - 0.81%

e)   BBC - 0.74%

f)    ESPN - 0.56%

g)   Comcast - 0.53%

h)   Globo - 0.49%

i)     Scripps - 0.49%

j)    NY Times - 0.48%

k)   Turner Sports - 0.44%

l)     Comcast Entertainment - 0.44%

m) NBC Universal - 0.43%

n)   RTL Network - 0.41%

o)   Fox News - 0.38%

p)   Reed Business - 0.37%

q)   Tribune Newspapers - 0.36%

Biggest surprise here, for me, is that Guardian Online didn't make it on the list--in my opinion the best news site on the internet.

Overall

a)   Google - 7.35%

b)   MSN Windows Live/Bing - 5.71%

c)   Yahoo! - 4.9%

Again, no surprise. If you don't have your site saved as a favorite, and if you don't know precisely, where you want to go, chances are that you will reach for a search engine/portal first.

It all stands to digital reason.

Not that the question has been keeping me up at night, but how is the Russian Digital Citizen faring these days?

Well, according to a very informative blog by Gregory Asmolov on Global Voices the Russian Internet inroads show no sign of slowing down.

A Gfk Group reports that the number of Russian families that now have Internet access have significantly increased over recent years. Currently, every third Russian family browses the Web. Of course, Moscow has the biggest Internet penetration rate of 52 percent while the Russian Far East region has the lowest penetration rate of 21 percent.

The report further says that for 72 percent of Russians the current economical crisis has had little or not effect on the level of their Internet usage.  Also, according to the same report, 46 percent of Russian Internet users access via their hand-held devices. Not surprisingly, the majority--as in 81 percent--of those users consists of 16-19 years olds.

According to an ACM-Consulting report, the number of Runet (the Russian Internet) users with broadband access rose by 36 percent in 2009, from 8.3 to 11.3 millions. As a result, the size of Russian broadband market increased by 60 percents during last year and it is currently estimated at $2.7 billion.

According to Russian newspapers "Vedomosty," telecommunication experts predict that in 2010 the broadband market will primarily develop in Russian regions, since three quarters of Moscow Internet users already have high-speed access. Consequently, Internet providers will focus more on smaller cities.

However, when you compare major cities--such as Moscow and St. Petersburg--with the Russian regions, a substantial digital divide still exists. For example, the average Moscow Internet access speed in Moscow and St. Petersburg is about seven Мbps, compared to an average of 410 kbps in other large cities. This divide, to a large extent, reflects the price policies of Internet providers, with the cost of regional Internet services in largely exceeding that of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Most likely, with renewed focus by Internet providers on the Russian regions (since Moscow and St. Petersburg is nearing saturation point), the broadband prices will drop in the regions, and the divide will close, both as to percentage of users and access speed.

As I said, it hasn't kept me up at night--I usually sleep very well after a few chapters of Dostoevsky--but I am surprised that broadband Internet has indeed made such inroads in Russia.

We truly are becoming a global, digital village, albeit a huge one.

A survey by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as reported last week in Computerworld, shows that cost and lack of digital skills are the main reasons that more than a third of Americans still do not have access to high-speed Internet from their homes.

The recently released survey and its associated report, "Broadband Adoption and Use in AmeAmerica," estimates that 93 million adults and children over age 5 do not get broadband Internet at home, about 35% of the nation.

This finding actually points to a growing digital divide for Internet access, since companies such as Google are mainly interested in investing in super-fast Internet connections to homes and businesses using fiber optic cables that many say--this writer included--would undoubtedly increase cost of access and in essence only serve more affluent users.

"We need to tackle the challenge of connecting 93 million Americans to our broadband future," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in a statement timed with the release of the survey. "In the 21st century, a digital divide is an opportunity divide."

He added that job creation and American competitiveness abroad require that "all Americans have the skills and means to fully participate in the digital economy."

The telephone survey of 5,005 adults last fall includes 2,334 adults who said they are not broadband users at home. It precedes the FCC's delivery of a National Broadband Plan to Congress, due on March 17. This plan is expected to outline and detail a strategy for connecting all Americans to affordable broadband to help create jobs and economic growth.

The survey found three main barriers to the adoption of broadband: affordability, digital literacy and relevance.

About one-third of the group that hasn't adopted broadband cited cost concerns: the monthly fee was too expensive; they could not afford a computer; the installation fee was too high; or they didn't want to enter a long-term service contract. The survey found the average monthly broadband bill for all users was $41.

About 22% of the group said they lacked digital skills or were concerned about the hazards of going online, including the security of their personal information or being exposed to in appropriate content.

And about 19% said they didn't get broadband because they find the Internet to be a waste of time or don't see any online content of interest. Dial-up users said they remain content with their current service.

John Horrigan, the author of the 51-page report issued with the survey and director of consumer research for the Omnibus Broadband Initiative, said multiple solutions would be required to address the broadband gap in the U.S. Those include lower costs of service and hardware, helping communities develop online skills and telling them about applications that are relevant to their lives.

More specifically, the survey found that:

• 78 percent of adults are Internet users, whether that means broadband, dial-up, access from home or access from somewhere other than home.
• 74 percent of adults have access at home.
• 67 percent of U.S. households contain a broadband user who accesses the service at home.
•  65 percent of adults are broadband adopters. The dis­crepancy of two percentage points between household and individual home use is because some survey respon­dents are non-broadband users but live with someone who, at home, is.
•  6 percent of Americans use dial-up Internet connections as their main form of home access.
• 6 percent are Internet users but do not use it from home; they access the Internet from places such as work, the library or community centers.

For the purposes of the report, home broadband users are those who said they used any one of the following technologies to access the internet from home: cable modem, a DSL-enabled phone line, fixed wireless, satellite, a mobile broadband wire­less connection for your computer or cell phone, fiber optic, T-1. In other words, home broadband users opt in to that classi­fication through a survey question not by adhering to definition of broadband by speed that might be read to them.

The main dividing lines for access are along socioeconomic dimensions such as income and education.

• 46 percent of adults whose highest level of education is a high school degree are broadband users at home; 82 percent of adults who have attended or graduated from college are broadband users at home.
• 52 percent of Americans in households with annual incomes of $50,000 or below have broadband at home, compared with 87 percent of those in households with incomes above that level.

Among low-income Americans--those whose annual household incomes fall below $20,000--broadband adoption stands at 40 percent.

African-Americans and Hispanics trail the average in broadband access, although gaps have narrowed since early 2009.

• 59 percent of African-Americans have broadband at home.
•  49 percent of Hispanics (English and Spanish speaking) have broadband at home.
• For Hispanics who took the survey in Spanish, broad­band adoption is only 20 percent.
• For Hispanics who opted to take the survey in English, 65 percent have broadband.

These figures represent increases from levels registered in surveys conducted in early 2009 by the Pew Research Center, which found in April that 46% of African Americans and 40% of Hispanics (English and Spanish speaking) used broadband at home.

The full report, which makes for very interesting reading, can be found here.