A Slower Internet?

Broadband,T-1, Fios…can we get any faster? The internet is all about downloading everything from music to the latest You Tube video everyone is talking about. The faster the better and as technology continues to change, the downloads should get even faster…right? Could we be heading back to the days of dial-up? A recent USA Today article says yes. David Lieberman of the USA Today writes “The Web will start to seem pokey as early as 2010, as use of interactive and video-intensive services overwhelms local cable, phone and wireless Internet providers, a study by business technology analysts Nemertes Research has found. Users will experience a slow, subtle degradation, so it’s back to the bad old days of dial-up,” says Nemertes President Johna Till Johnson. “The cool stuff that you’ll want to do will be such a pain in the rear that you won’t do it.”

Companies like Verizon and Comcast will be investing over 55 billion dollars to run high-capacity lines. Schools, hospitals and businesses could add to the flood as they use the Web for long-distance education, health care services and videoconferencing. The public can expect the fees for internet use to increase as these new technologies become available. So will we experience a slower internet, only time will tell.