Even free broadband's not enough

[john]

Intersting article from the BBC : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8091398.stm

[Rik]

We seem to be reaching saturation, don't we. Just as some people don't have a mobile, I suspect there will always be some that don't have a broadband connection. Certainly, my 89 year-old uncle is adamant that it's too difficult for him, whilst bemoaning the fact he misses out on so much.

[john]

My dad was 90 when he died and although he did not have an Internet connection at home he did have a computer and went to a local compute class to learn how to use it and was able to access the internet from there. My sister-in-law in her 50's has a dial-up connection and although her husband uses it, she never has and has stated that she simply isn't interested.

I had a computer and internet connection for years and my wife never showed any interest but since getting a laptop she's been using it mor and more, so much in fact that I think I may have to buy another one so that we can both get on-line without waiting for the other.

[Rik]

If my uncle lived closer, John, I'm sure I would be able to help him make the leap. Unfortunately, I'm too far away to do that.

Sue and I went through the evolution, one machine became insufficient and so in came a router and a second machine. Now we have four, according to where we are and what we want to be doing - I'd never have thought that likely a few years ago.

[El Bunto]

Intersting article from the BBC : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8091398.stm

After the collapse of e7even ( *cough* ) I was deliberately offline at home for around 16 months, so disillusioned was I with broadband ISPs.  Prior to the Cowboys from Kent I had been with BT Openworld, and the less said about that the better.

What persuaded me to get online again was (1) increasingly draconian Internet access policies at work and (2) the discovery that there were Proper ISPs like IDNet and A&A.  From general chatter around the office I find that reason (1) is remarkably common.  People are prepared to pay £20 per month to get their fix of Wikipedia or weblogs.  Once they have a taste they can't let go!

Also I had a breakfast-time rant about this:

``Ofcom's survey found that one in five adults who don't have the internet plan to go online in the next six months. ''

Do we say ``they have the electricity'' or ``they have the water''?  So why do reporters insist on saying ``they have the Internet?''

BAH!

El Bunto

[Rik]

Careful, you're sounding like an unseasonable Scrooge.

[Glenn]

Both my mum & dad have laptops each, mum uses heres for email & MSN etc, dad plays cards

[Noreen]

I have a friend who has no interest in the Internet or computers and says that she doesn't want to know, however it doesn't stop her asking me to find out info for her on the Internet. She's also not interested in digital TV but I fear that she's going to be in trouble there.

[Rik]

It's amazing how many people come to you wanting to know about, or obtain something from, the 'net, but always argue they don't need it themselves. I have a friend who wants me to d/l map updates for his TomTom at 1GB a time. As long as I'm on a 5GB package, it's just not going to happen.

[colonelsun]

For some it's certainly a generational thing, well it is in my family and immediate area where i live.

My dear mum has cared for thousands of kids through social services for most of her life, she's been on training courses provided by social services and was a co ordinator for carers in our county but a mobile phone and the internet seems to be a step too far. I managed to convince her to get Freeview tv but that was after she flatly refused satellite tv...apparently satellite tv was too complicated for her and the channels confused her. I absolutely respect her decision to try and have nothing to do with new technology but any benefits that new technology offer is out-weighed by the assumption it's difficult to learn.

As for the rest of the people who say they'll have nothing to do with the web i find it difficult to understand when almost any job you apply for these days entails some contact with a computer or input device, it's almost impossible to escape a keyboard these days.

[Rik]

My MIL can't handle satellite but is OK with Freeview. I think it's the fact she had two remotes to contend with that was part of the problem. I suspect a set-top box for Freeview would have been as bad, while a built-in tuner was more like the model she was used to.

[colonelsun]

Remote controls are a huge problem for my mum too....can't see why because you've never seen a woman grab the correct remote control when one of the guys at Wimbledon removes his shirt.LOL