Business 2.0 put together an, in our opinion, awesome feature article about the U.S broadband status.
The future seldom announces itself, even when it's already here.
Consider what's happening with broadband Internet access. Advanced
technologies like high-speed cable, wireless data networks, 3G
cellular, and supercharged copper wires are ushering in a new era of
interactivity. It's become routine to play a game of video baseball
with a pal across the country, or download movies from Movielink or
CinemaNow, or build a digital jukebox of 99-cent songs from iTunes. Yet
all of that is just the beginning.
 Illustrations by Kenn Brown 
Illustrations by Kenn Brown
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Network built by municipally owned utility |
Bristol Virginia Utilities, an electric and water utility owned
by this town of 17,000 residents, operates a fiber-to-the-home network
that delivers video, voice, and high-speed Internet for about $100 a
month. Using $2 million from a tobacco class-action settlement, the
network is now being extended.
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Ubiquitous wireless broadband at a near dial-up price |
In one of the biggest deployments of fixed wireless technology,
Daytona is the test bed for Clearwire, cellular pioneer Craig McCaw's
latest venture. Daytona's wireless network will eventually cover about
65,000 homes, offering connections as fast as 1.5 Mbps for $25 a month.
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Electric wires that undercut cable modems |
Manassas has installed a small network that carries 300-kbps
data connections to residents and businesses over conventional power
lines. While slower than DSL, the system is faster than dial-up, and at
$29 per month for residential service, it's cheaper than Comcast's $46
cable offering.
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Countywide fixed wireless network |
Stringing cables to provide broadband would be prohibitively
expensive in this rural county, so Owensboro Municipal Utilities built
a fixed wireless network to keep local businesses competitive. The
100-year-old utility provides high-speed Internet access using fixed
wireless base stations for $25 a month.
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