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Diary
of a Broadband newbie- Jan - March 2003
 This
is a rather eccentric account of what has happened in my house after installing
a broadband modem at the start of January 2003. Lest you think this is
a whimsical irrelevance consider the following:
- Half of
UK households are now online (and half not) which means growing differences
in behaviour between the Internet haves and havenots.
- UK internet
based sales passed the £1 billion mark in November 2002 according
to New Media Age.
- UK TV
viewing figures declined by 10% in 2002 over 2001 and the Internet is
fingered as the culprit. And this is when there was virtually no home
penetration of broadband.
- If you
look at Germany where the home penetration of ISDN/broadband is running
at 50% of households online cf 2% in the UK, the amount of time spent
online a month for broadband users is 21 hours compared with a 6.5 hour
average for the rest. Source: Neilsen Net ratings
- Oftel
now reports that the rate of sign up for broadband in UK homes is 28,000
a week the fastest growth in Europe though the installation base still
lags well behind Germany, France and Spain. Source: Net
Imperative you can download a free white paper from here called
Broadband Britain.
Parting
shot (April 2003)
In the next
few days I'll post some statistics on broadband developments in the UK
in the last 6 months. The UK is the fastest growing broadband market
in the world and the penetration of broadband has leapt from 1% of
the population
a year ago to over 25% this year. We're still behind certain other
countries but the relative change means that there will be marked difference
in
how the internet is used and this is set to increase.
Month 3
March
Hmm well
a bit like February really. The reality of techology is that it recedes
into the background - you stop noticing it. Yes I've listened to the odd
album while I'm working, yes I'm clicking through to find out more about
the artists/film stars, yes I'm using the web to time shift my radio listening.
But the reality is I'm still watching TV, I'm still using the terrestrial
programming schedules to remind me to time shift in the first place so
this funky world without boundaries isn.t that boundaryless. And I can
pick up newsfeeds for war in Iraq - but I have 4 24 hour channels already
doing this coming in on cable. I'm going to stop the diary at this point
- there's a new technical fish to fry next month (a PDA) but I hope this
has given you some overview of the impact of broadband. In summary it
isn't life changing but I wouldn't go back to life before broadband if
you paid me - and I have huge sympathy for those who by virtue of where
they live cannot access broadband - it must be a major handicap for them.
Though as you can see from the diary the difference between the haves
and the have nots is more perceptual than real.
Month 2 February
End of February
and to be frank it all feels rather normal. The real buzz of broadband is
the ability to watch video and listen to audio when you want ie you are
released from the constraints of programming. My favourite link this month
was Real Networks which kept offering me stuff I would never have thought
of but which could be played in the background while I work: Ministry's
Animositisomina, Johnny Marr and the Healers new album Boomslang, and Blackalicious
not 30 second audio clips but entire albums and concert videos. Which makes
sense because I'd never get around to listening to these people unless it
was put under my nose so to speak. What else? Well webcasting of televised
events and timeshifted listening on Radio 4 have become a staple. Broadband
doesn't feel a earthshatteringly different but I'd kill you if you tried
to take it away!
Month 1 January
So here we are
at the end of January. And what is there to report? Well actually not a
lot - yes it has been possible to download the odd pop promo. And I have
made a half hearted attempt to find out where you can download whole films
(but without success). The truth is that when you spend hours looking at
a screen anyway you don't opt so spend all your leisure time watching Kylie's
latest gyrations. I don't listen to the radio when I work otherwise I would
have switched from terrestrial to web radio by now. Though if I had kept
an accurate daily diary I have undoubtedly spent a lot more time on line
- sites download so much faster that I have downloaded more mp3 audio files
on spec. There's a lot more impulse browing because the internet is always
a window away. And I WAS able to download a 23MB film from the February
site of the month Everyday lives in about 2 and a half minutes...
Week 1
Wot
I got: A 1 MB connection (20 times faster than the 56K modem I had - and
costing 3.5 times as much a month in subs. By virtue of a router this
is shared across 3 machines which can now surf the web at once. The connection
is always on so access is instantaneous.
Day -7: "installer"
came round from NTL. Refused to install out in the office in the garden
- "that would make it a business and we'd charge 3 times as much.
Wouldn't touch the carpet to put cable beneath it. Draped coax cable around
the Christmas tree and the hat stand, across the back door at waist height.
Refused to touch the computer - doesn't know anything about them by his
own admission. Tested the modem handed me a CD ROM to install software
myself, got me to sign on the dotted line and left. Wife was speechless
- Ed. this doesn't happen often.
Day 1: Friend
comes round for the afternoon to help install. Need welcome letter with
pin code and username and password. None had been sent. Fortunately phone
call to NTL supplies all of these. After an hour's work all 3 machines
are surfing the net simultaneously. Attempt to download Wwindows updates
(new drivers and recent software modifications) on all 3 machines simultaneously.
Machine 1 downloads 46MB of data, machine 2: 4MB and Machine C: 12MB all
in 10 minutes. Lightheaded with excitement. Subsequently discover that
the update on machine 3 has knackered the DVD drive which won't work properly
any more and will need to be reinstalled ah well.
Evening of
Day 1: kids are downloading pop videos. Cheeky girls and the Ketchup song
- who said that Broadband was good for high culture. But by using a search
engine or going to the TOTP site you seem to be able to get any video
you want. Worried about kids access I set a parental lock which is mindlessly
stupid and forces a password check every webpage. Which doesn't phase
my 9 year old daughter who has guessed the password in minutes....
 Day
2: Wonder when Matrix 2 is coming out. Within 4 minutes have downloaded
2 film trailers. Fantastic - don't have to wait to see TV ads when the
films come out. And now I know what I'll be going to see in July. And
December when Matrix 3 is out. Email seems to have stopped working - can't
work out why - crisis building. Kids playing games on the Nickelodeon
site. Apparently they got the URL off some kids programme.
Day 3 and
I have rediscovered the BBC site. I was already able to listen to radio
live online but now I can have radio in the background while I'm surfing
and doing other stuff. I can listen to a stack of BBC radio programmes
I missed because it wasn't convenient to listen to them. Do the Beeb have
any idea what they are starting - and why do they only do this for radio
and not TV - go figure. But it's only a matter of time. And I was able
to listen to the news without needing to wait for the scheduled time.
Still no email.
Day 4. I'm
doing some filing and want some background music. Discover on the Radio
2 site than there is an entire David Gray concert FILMED. They've obviously
broadcast it and left the film online chunked into 4 pieces. Run it in
the background - not as good resolution visually as TV but sound quality
perfectly acceptable. Still no email - this is getting scary.
Day 5 Mate
comes round to fix email - it turned out to require a reinstallation of
the antivirus package. What relief! Haven't tried uploading the website
at broadband speeds yet but it should be a doddle. While I'm trying to
sort out some drivers I find myself on the MSN website which claims to
provide streaming media. This turns out to be rehashed CNN articles. But
to see them I have to endure a 20 second advertising piece and sometimes
the ad runs and there's no content behind it - definitely old school advertising
- just hit em with the ad and invoice the advertiser - but what makes
you think I'll come back?
 Day
6 I get an email asking me to review some study material. I'm advised
I need Acrobat 5.1 - all 8 MB of which flies down and installs within
minutes. While I am waiting I download an mp3 off his website to listen
to. I'm still getting used to the ching as emails arrive. Formerly I had
to check up to 20 times a day whether any was in.
That'll do
for starters. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not claiming to be a typical
user. I'm not saying that I've stopped watching TV. And I haven't bought
anything online since going broadband. But already I can see that broadband
will make a big differenbce to the way I use the internet. There's a whole
host of technical issues - the potential for screwups is horrendous and
technical support is iffy wherever you look. But in terms of entertainment,
now that I can get genuine programming - there is an alternative to the
radio and more importantly TV. My net usage has gone through the roof
because I get things quicker but mostly because the content is bigger
- I could turn into an internet potato as opposed to a mouse or a couch
potato. But before the online brotherhood get all excited this doesn't
make it an advertising opportunity. I'm watching less advertising not
more and I'm intolerant of clumsy attempts to get me to watch it. Though
I do notice the brands who provide me with content or sponsor it. And
I'm £35 a month worse off which is good for NTL taking them one
step back from the receivers. So I'll keep you posted. See you in a month.
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Broadband Diary