[ NNSquad ] Re: Poll: Cost of Broadband Discourages Many

[Barry Gold <bgold@matrix-consultants.com>]

Lauren Weinstein wrote:
> Poll: Cost of Broadband Discourages Many
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012103297.html
>   

The Post article suggests that the price point for greater adoption is 
$10/month.  This is a problem, because NetZero charges $9.95/month for 
_dial-up_ service.  It seems unlikely that anybody will be able to make 
money offering broadband at that price -- at least, not until we see 
another couple of iterations of Moore's Law(*).

So the only way to get a major increase in adoption would be through 
government subsidies.  This has its own problem.  TANSTAAFL.  It still 
needs to be paid for.  If people won't pay out of their own pocket, it 
comes out of tax money.  That means either
 a) we pay higher taxes,
 b) we reduce some other government services(+)
 c) we inflate the currency some more.

All of these impose costs on all of us.  We should not spend this money 
unless the long term gain to the country exceeds the cost of doing 
this.  That seems to have been the case with, e.g., the Interstate 
Highway System and the original development of the Internet (talk about 
serendipity...).  Would we get the same benefit from making sure that 
people too poor to afford it -- or for whom it's not a high enough 
priority to spend money on instead of other things -- get broadband 
access, as opposed to dial-up?  Keeping in mind that some people _still_ 
won't use it because
 . they can't afford a computer
 . they're afraid of computers
 . the learning curve is too steep

(*) And even Moore's Law seems to have a bottom price on a given 
commodity type.  There comes a point where the "thing" doesn't get 
cheaper, it just acquires more features for the same price.  (Part of 
that is the cost of non-electronic parts like fans and the case, plus 
the costs involved in the selling chain.)

(+) I have some nominations,like the War on (some) Drugs, but I have a 
sneaking suspicion that people in Iowa have a different list...