I started my broadband crusade before my kids could crawl. Now, they are about to leave home. One of them has asked to have her input before she leaves ....
This blog post can be read at http://5tth.blogspot.com
I've been brought up around broadband this ... broadband that ... so I know a little more than the average teenager but to be honest, broadband is boring!
Most people my age hear the word broadband and think "geek time!" ... most people know that it's to do with the intenet and how fast things are, but not many people know a MB from a Mb or even the upload speed from the download speed. So even when people like BT are offering up 20MB or whatever, it's just geek speak.
All we want to know is how long will it take us to upload 100 photos to Facebook or how long it's going to take to download some songs from iTunes but instead all these computer techy people bombard us with is useless figures and prices which don't seem to be true half the time - judging by the reaction and things my mum says when some company says they have superfast new broadband speeds!
Also from growing up around someone who is COMPLETLEY OBSESSED with broadband and why we want/need it - I've learnt and used a lot of things you can do with a fairly good connection like ours. Things like Qik and playing things on youtube without the reloading every 2 minutes. But not many people my age know of the things you can use and most often don't get the chance because if you have to wait 5 hours for something to load then you will just close the tab and move on!
My broadband connection is ok - it's not the best after seeing some of the speeds other people's computers work at, but it's not too bad. But it could be loads better and I wish it was. It would mean that I could use my computer much more because everything would be about a million times faster and I could use all sorts of new programs and apps.
Broadband really doesn't have to be boring - it might just be possible to make it exciting, fun and revolutionary, but first it has to be made relevant to people of my age and that means connecting with us and what we want with broadband. In many cases it means actually explaining what broadband is - but not in the techy geeky language of MBs and megs but in our language ... Facebook, Myspace and Youtube.
Broadband doesn't have to be boring, let's try and pimp it up!
Wednesday Bytes: Telxius, BDx, EdgeConneX, Nokia, Hotwire
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[image: Wednesday Bytes: Telxius, BDx, EdgeConneX, Nokia, Hotwire]
A set of interesting infrastructure items from around the world: … [visit
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3 hours ago
3 comments:
I obviously have 101 comments on this blog post, but have been told to sleep on them. She asked for access to the blog following a call to Westminster this evening where she was asked for her opinions (a first) about a multitude of digital issues.
I can only say I'm proud of both my twins. The other one is currently in a festival black hole where mobiles can't be recharged and I am quite looking forward to that input too. Now they have started, expect them to continue....!!!
Well well well said Ms T - the Next Generation talking about the Next Generation and talking the most sense I've heard about boring broadband in years.
I blame the parents ;)
haha, great blogpost, following in momma's footsteps eh? telling it like it is.
I think its boring too. In my opinion it should just work, and that is what we are all working for, less of the hype, less of the spin, and just a utility which is there for everyone, like water and electricity. I am proud to be doing it so that you can do exactly what you describe, wherever you want to live and work in the future, and I sincerely hope you will want to live around here and not in some foreign country who have invested in next generation access while we are still on slow copperlane jazzed up dialup.
I praise your parent. She has done a great job for you and your generation. I just hope the powers that be appreciate all her hard work over these years and that you reap the benefit. It is only when broadband becomes truly boring that it is going to be the driver for our new digital economy. It simply has to be there without having to fight tooth and nail for a paltry few drips out of a tap when we could be having a powershower. Thanks for blogging your thoughts and reminding us of why we are doing this...
chip off the old block?
chris
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