« King Kong v. Godzilla | Weblog | A new way of looking at an old subject - "telephony" »

Speed Matters (So Does Price)

Category:  Laws & Regulations > Municipal Broadband Policy Debate

"Here he comes, driving Small Hopes and Lady Mac." The cry went up from a number of gentlemen .... had been waiting for some time, watching the road cityward, for the appearance of Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, who was momentarily expected....While they were waiting, something was said about the celebrated bay horse, Edwin Forrest, now in Mr. Robert Bonner's barn, and who a little over a year ago was an unknown factor on the trotting turf. This past summer, he got a record of better than 2:16, and it is believed by many that he is the fastest trotter in the country. This is saying a good deal, and may reasonably be doubted, when one comes to remember the fast-going Hopeful, and the equally fast, if not faster, Rarus. In any event, however, either one of the three can trot a mile at a speed equal to over 26 miles an hour, or faster than most railroad trains travel. Speeding the Roadsters, Fast Trotting Above Central Bridge, NY Times, November 17, 1878

One challenge I have with any discussion about broadband is that this technology is all still so relative. Any discussion of speed is certainly dependent on individual experience and what is within the realm of the imagination. Speed has always mattered to man, and those with money have always gone faster than those without. While we're talking today about data network speeds, it wasn't so long ago that the discussion was about how fast a human could go.

While visiting Colonial Williamsburg this summer, I had the pleasure of hearing an actor playing the role of Thomas Jefferson to perfection. The scenario, in the garden behind the governor's mansion one sunny afternoon, was that it was 1807 and Pres. TJ had just ridden his horse down from Raleigh, to be with us in the waning days of his presidential administration, to reflect on changes in the 31 years since he had written the Declaration of Independence.

He started his talk by observing that democracy had not changed that much, especially when you considered that the privileged few still rode on horseback while others had to walk. He had, he told us, ridden his horse at an average speed of four miles per hour, while people walking could expect to cover on average about two miles per hour. So, he observed, "Here we are 30 years later, and we still live in a three-mile-per-hour world. Perhaps from the view of the man on foot, we haven't come so far after all." That was striking!

Two days later, I was at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, built at the end of the nineteenth century by George Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, and son of William H. Vanderbilt, the horse-driving speedster in the image above. (Biltmore is an incredible place to visit, by the way). On one of the bedroom walls was the Currier & Ives Print above, with a caption that detailed the 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 3/4 mile, and 1 mile split times of the trotters.

Again, isn't it fascinating that achieving such speeds was such a big event to be so remarked upon, only 130 years ago? I guess when people of that day compared the speeds they were able to get to what Thomas Jefferson had described, 70 years earlier, then that was some progress. But really, times hadn't even changed that much, from 1807 to 1878...

But boy have times changed since then. When I ask someone today "Do you have High-Speed Internet Access?", I'm likely to get a highly variable response, because any two people are likely to hold two different definitions on what "high-speed internet" really means. Just ask someone on dial-up in rural America and someone with access to a fiber network and compare notes. Then ask any American - rural or urban - and any Japanese user, and prepare to be amazed, because the average speed in Japan is dramatically higher (and the price, cheaper).

That's just what this website does - The Importance of Universal Internet Access - Speed Matters - compare internet access speeds. It offers an intriguing tool to measure your access speed, both download and upload, then compares it to speeds found elsewhere. It's an eye-opener, check it out.