Message to Microsoft — Dial-Up Is Not Dead
As impressive as the WOW Microsoft Vista release must have been, I was not able to watch the Webcasts. Microsoft seems to be under the impression that the world has all moved to fast broadband connections. Well, let me be the first to tell Redmond, “It just ain’t so!”
The slowest speed provided for viewing is 100K. On Demand Webcasts are no better. In testing, the fastest playback I am able to achieve is 56 kbs. That just doesn’t work well for Microsoft customers who use dial-up and are interested in learning more about new Microsoft offerings.
Dial-up? Yes, I am still on a dial-up connection at home. As a matter of fact, I have been using the same Internet Service Provider since Bluefrog Internet’s debut in 2000 as a free ISP. It is no longer free, but the service has been excellent and fits within my budget.
Being curious on how many people Microsoft is missing by essentially ignoring dial-up consumers, I did a bit of investigating. After all, I was under the impression, based on a study a friend conducted last fall before going into business that approximately 40% of Internet access from home users in the U.S. is via dial-up connection.
The first thing I did was ask at Freedomlist. After all, a primary focus of FL is $10 & Under Cheap ISP’s. A helpful reference to an InfomationWeek article was posted by member “Z”. That article led me to a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report from May, 2006. Data from the GAO report is included in the References section at the end of this post.
Full story and Source: Security Garden