On The Verge

Some so called experts still don’t get the challenges of Internet technology. In the recent USA Today article “Video, interactivity could ensnare web users by 2010,” analysts and industry participants discussed the impending traffic crisis. And yes things such as video content or even Flash animation can slow the Internet experience. But the article squarely places the blame on the last mile. The only real issue in the last mile today is the number of people who still can’t get broadband in North America as I wrote in "Reach is key to broadband-based innovation.” Moreover the last mile won’t be the issue by the 2010 date projected in the article. And the fact is that the Internet is just plain pokey today. Forget about tomorrow.

Don’t misunderstand, I’d welcome a faster last mile. I covered the fiber-to-the home movement in “100-Mpbs broadband: how, why, when, and where?” and believe the technology will proliferate. But my cable modem today is far speedier than the backbone of the Internet and the sites that feed the network. And that situation will only get worse with more video traffic and have a far greater impact on the experience than the last mile.

Up front I’ll admit that EDN.com is no speed demon of a web site. We constantly ask our IT department for more servers and faster pipes. But our IT guys are keeping more than 100 publications on line and have budget limitations like all other businesses. I’m also sure there are things in our site architecture that could be optimized. As a web publisher, I worry more about what we are doing to make our site speedier than I do about whether the last mile will make our site seem to perform poorly.  

EDN.com is far from alone in this situation. I spent a little time this weekend on the Food TV web site looking for the perfect turkey brine for Thanksgiving. Boy is that site pokey right now. I assume I wasn’t the only surfer looking for Thanksgiving ideas there. But I think a recent redesign that perhaps makes the site a bit prettier is also hampering performance.

I’d also like to chime in with another thought about broadband that I’ve offered several times in past articles and columns. The masses didn’t move to broadband because of speed. The initial attraction of broadband is the always-on aspect. It’s the always-on angle that means I never pick up a phone directory theses days or even the newspaper for movie listings or sports schedules. Yes more bandwidth and video support will be great. But the industry needs to worry more about reaching those that can’t get broadband today.

Happy Thanksgiving!