April 7, 1997
The Need for Speed
By Bob O'Donnell
I'm stuck in the slow lane and can't find an easy way out. The problem is I've been
saddled with a 28.8Kbps connection to the Internet for the last few weeks and I'm about to
go nuts. Sure I'd seen how slow the Internet was at 28.8 during previous remote dial-up
sessions, but those had been relatively few and far between. In recent weeks, however,
I've been depending on a 28.8Kbps modem for my contact with the digital world, and it's
making me wonder how the Web has been able to grow as quickly as it has. I guess there are
a lot more patient people in the world than I realized.
Staring at a partially redrawn screen while waiting for Web pages to download has got
to be one of the most stupefying experiences of the modern age. Or, as Dilbert might say,
a serious decrease in productivity. How can you get any work done if all you're doing is
clicking and waiting?
It seems that too many site designers and Webmasters have become a bit too enamored of
their fast connections to the 'net because most of the Web sites I visit are frustratingly
slow at normal dial-up speeds. In fact, I challenge you to bang away at your company's
site for several hours or a full day using a dial-up connection. Then, you, too, can
experience the pain that a large percentage of your site's visitors experience.
And it is a large percentage. Although many companies provide speedy T1 connections to
the Web, the reality is that large numbers of business users still depend on analog modem
connections to the Internet. In fact, in a survey InfoWorld Electric conducted
about three months ago, nearly one-third of this site's readers connected via 28.8 or 33.6
modems. The number is remarkably high when you remember that InfoWorld Electric
readers make their living in the computer industry as software developers, consultants, or
IT professionals. Go outside the IT world and the percentage of readers using dial-up
connections must go up dramatically.
If businesses are truly moving toward extending their computing beyond their office
walls, then this is a big problem. We can get Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop for crying
out loud; why can't we even assume megabit bandwidth to the Internet. End users will
likely howl at such limitations and resist certain Internet applications.
I know, salvation comes in the shape of Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Lines, cable
modems, satellites or some other great new technology that's been talked about ad nauseam.
But none of these speed-enhancing technologies has been widely deployed. In fact, most are
in very limited trials that will last another 12 months or so.
So Web designers need to recognize that Internet users are stuck with slow dial-up
connections, unless their companies put in expensive T1 lines. And that's a shame, because
there's an amazing world of opportunities waiting to be used, but you can't get there from
the slow lane.
©
Copyright 1997, by InfoWorld Publishing Corp., a
subsidiary of IDG Communications, Inc. Reprinted from InfoWorld,
155 Bovet Road, San Mateo, CA 94402. Further reproduction is prohibited.
