Broadband, the high-speed Internet connection that technology gurus promised would make the Internet as ubiquitous as electricity, is starting to go the way of other high-tech promises: nowhere.
ExciteAtHome, North America's largest broadband provider, announced this month it was going out of business in February. Excite provides high-speed access to the Internet over cable television hookups for 4.1 million users.
It is not clear how many ExciteAtHome users will be transferred to other high-speed connections as the company's assets are supervised by a bankruptcy judge. With computer sales slumping and the last of the dot-com companies selling off their bankrupt assets at grim auctions in Silicon Valley, tech investors had been betting that a high-speed, always on connection to the Internet would the road to revival. But the Excite travails have brought to a forefront the shakiness of this savior.
"It certainly hasn't been the cure-all everyone thought it would be," said Dylan Brooks, an analyst with technology consultancy Jupiter Media Metrix. "Broadband has a lot of potential, but first someone has to make it work."
Broadband, which pumps data to users at a rate of 50 to 100 times that of regular telephone modems, has the potential of carrying movies, music and even telephone calls into homes and businesses.
Though it was initially a hit, enthusiasm for the service has been flattening.
According to analysts, new US broadband subscribers had slowed to a 14 percent growth per quarter, down from a 34 percent growth rate seen last year.
Europe, by contrast, has been an enthusiastic broadband adopter, especially Sweden and Denmark, where more than 13 percent of Internet users are using broadband connections. According to a recent study by the European Commission, broadband will soon be the leading method of connections to the Internet.
But in the US, financial difficulties have plagued broadband providers. Excite and other broadband companies like NorthPoint Communications, Covad and others have either shut their doors or sought refuge from their creditors in bankruptcy court.
According to a Parks Associates survey of 2,500 US households in July, almost 75 percent of the 46 million dial-up Internet subscribers in the US are content with the quality of their Internet service. Besides the financial woes, analyst believe US households are, generally, satisfied with their slower dial-up connections, especially when it costs half of broadband.
"Broadband service providers are banking on an increasing number of these subscribers becoming frustrated with dial-up service, which makes broadband seem more compelling," said Parks analyst Michael Greeson.
"But if dial-up customers remain pleased with the quality of Internet service at US$15 to US$25 per month, providers are going to have a tough time selling broadband at US$45 to US$50 per month."
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