Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Digital Decline


This is no surprise, particularly to those of us who live in the woods. It took Mrs. coldH2O & I until earlier this year to get DSL. It's better than nothing, although it's the slowest speed possible. But that's what happens when growing profits trumps growing the culture, the society, the educational system, etc., etc., etc., etc. I am very appreciative of how technology has & is helping my life. From the MRI scans on the computer screen in the doc's office (very cool & I was able to see what the problem was, & it, in fact, helped both the doc & I come to an agreement on treatment.) to the cell phone on my dashboard to the computer in my lap right now. But why the lag time? Why the crazy prices? Why the lousy service? Growing profits. That's all these people are interested in. They aren't concerned about growing customer service or customer loyalty or customer satisfaction. How 20th century. As my four loyal readers know, I'm old enough to remember ATT's monopoly on phone service. You know what? I was happy with it. When I picked up my phone it worked, yes, yes, occasionally thunderstorms would cause some problems. But it worked. & I didn't have to waste time deciding which phone package or company to chose. Life is too full of choices & the fewer the better, at least in my case. Anyway, another DUH! moment for Bu$hCo & America.
The U.S continues to lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to affordable and accessible broadband service according to a new report [Download pdf] by the media activist group Free Press, the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union. The report also finds that contrary to the picture painted by the government, there is no sign that the digital divide in this country is closing.

The author of the report, S. Derek Turner said yesterday that, "President Bush set a goal of bringing universal, affordable high-speed Internet access to every household by 2007, We're nowhere close to reaching that goal. Yet the Federal Communications Commission seems content to ignore the problem, manipulate the data, and pretend we're moving forward."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rick... How about I will have Jon Stewart's babies??

Scott said...

You talk about your four loyal readers as though you'd like more, but you don't bother to respond to comments or make comment on their blogs. Is it just me? Do you think I’m a loser? If so, you’re in a large group of conservative people I can do without. Next time you bemoan your low readership, I'll give you a comment, then remove you from my short daily list of blogs to read if you’re typically unresponsive.

Dude, I complimented and slammed you in my (admittedly tedious) blog, and didn't get a rise. If you want to be part of a community... Play with the other kids if you want them to play with you. At this point I'm guessing you don't want me to read your blog. This kid is feeling dissed, but that's okay. After all, you ride a ... Harley.

I'm assuming you have comment notification turned on. If not my going out on a limb to tweak the nose of someone I think I'd enjoy knowing is a total waste of the time it took to soften my language.