Who needs Cable Modems when you have ISDN…
So John C. Dvorak is a technology pundit and has been around for a few years… a lot of few years actually. He is a regular on the tech podcast This Week in Tech (TWiT) and has some of his own shows including “Cranky Geeks”. John is known for being a bit of a curmudgeon and though he has had brilliant moments in claiming what the future holds, sometimes he gets his foot tightly wedged into his mouth. This is a reflection on one of those times.
This was published back in 1997 when ISDN was a thing of wonder to all us geeks that were rolling around in pain as we dialed up with out 33.6K and 56K modems.
John had this to say about an emerging technology…
The noisiest buzz in the industry lately has been over the emerging use of cable TV systems to provide fast network data transmissions using a device called a cable modem. But the likelihood of this technology succeeding is zilch. It’s one of those interesting-sounding ideas that will attract what venture capitalists call dumb money. Unfortunately, it’s a big distraction in a market that should be concentrating on ISDN and broadband.
READ MORE… It’s funny…
As most of us know, cable modems now have a large portion of the net surfing market share, now Verizon is making it’s move on them by offering Fiber service, which I have and LOVE, but cable modems are not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. I just think it’s funny to look back at what the “experts” had to say about the state of tech and compare it with what actually happened. Take note of what they are saying today, because it will be somewhere on the internet to reference when the time comes to look back and compare. Remember, the internet doesn’t forget… your mistakes, they are timeless.
-Kamen
Cable modems need to go away.
Access to the web needs to be taken out of the hands of telecos and cablecos and returned to the control of the people via local government.
Fast access to the web should be infrastructure, just like law enforcement, fire, roads, water, waste water disposal, drinking water, electricity, etc.
Intel just announced a wireless box with 10 mile range, thus giving rural areas a real shot at fast access.
BTW: the FCC defines broadband as 200Kbps… ridiculous.
GoingLIkeSixty’s last blog post..Wife As Bunny; Egg in Shoe; Eggs on Ceiling