Affordable, High-Speed Internet Access
High-speed Internet did not always exist, obviously. I remember being in junior high school trying to sneak onto the Internet to use AOL Instant Messenger on my family’s computer when I was supposed to be doing homework. I often was caught by my mother who could hear the dial-up tone as I was getting connected.
When I first came to UConn, there was not yet wireless access everywhere on campus. Somehow we survived. While we have wireless access almost everywhere on campus now, it is a convenience. It would also be convenient if all students were given BlackBerrys too.
I view high-speed internet access as a luxury. Of course, it would be nice if it was affordable and available to everyone nationwide, but this is not so important that an “Internet Innovation and Investment Fund” must be formed, as the TechPresident article suggests. The article proposes that the fund would have a minimal budget of $20 billion dollar, which it says is half of what we spend on highways in a single year, “to guarantee and spur development of an Internet wireless broadband blanket and make sure the Net reaches every segment of our population.”
Twenty billion dollars is a lot of money to spend on wireless internet access, when there were 47.5 million Americans without health insurance in 2007. As of June 2008, 75.2% of Americans were Internet users.
But what do people use the Internet for? According to Pew Internet Research, 92% of Internet users used the Internet to send or receive emails; 91% to search for information; 83% for information about a hobby or interest. These are not activities that require fast access. Sure, it is inconvenient that your computer must be stationary and connected through hard wire so that you can’t surf the Net from your comfortable couch, or that you have to wait a minute or two for a page to load.
The fact is, vital information can be gotten just as quickly as a phone call to your doctor, a friend, a store, or in the pages of a newspaper. UConn student Chris Wahrenburg said that the Internet is not a person’s sole source of information, and if information must be achieved fast, there are other ways to get it. For example, talking directly to your doctor is a more reliable source of information than WebMD, said Wahrenburg.
The bottom line is, money does not grow on trees, and ensuring that every American has affordable, wireless Internet is not worth $20 billion. Considering the state of our highway infrastructure right now, I think the $20 billion would be put to good use in that area.
