In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about how broadband stimulus is a bad idea that will generate zero results.

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Broadband Stimulus - A Bad Idea
.... that will generate zero results

I'm sure that like me you've been having lots of conversations lately about the stimulus bill coming out of Washington and the hope that it will begin to get things turned around. People that know me have reliably been asking me the same question: "Aren't you glad to see they are planning on stimulating broadband internet access?"

And then I reply: "Nope. Bad Idea. Won't work." and their jaws drop at least a little.

Once they get over the shock of hearing a hardcore geek talk about technology investment being a bad idea they ask me why - and I thought it would be worth sharing my logic with you, my dear Web Enlightenment readers.

The first thing you need to understand is that broadband access to the web is available in all parts of America and always has been. If you've got a telephone you can have the fastest web access on planet earth delivered to your front door - for a price. There is nothing new about this and it has been true for at least two decades. We'll talk more about how I get Internet on the farm in rural Maine where I live in just a minute, but I can tell you that for $950 a month - with a 5 year commitment and a $5,000 "installation fee" - I could have a T1 line. That's the same sort of access that was used to support 2,500 students when I was in college. If I wanted to pay more they'd gladly give me more, no problem at all - a T4 line is 175 times faster than T1 line and could be mine for the low low price of about $25,000 a month.

So with this in mind we can see that all of the many studies on how broadband helps businesses and improves the economy - the conclusions they made weren't really based upon actual availability of broadband but the price of the availability.

It isn't hard to see that most business in rural Maine would not sign on the dotted line for a 5 year $62,000 commitment and the pricing would simply have them deciding to not get access at all. That was even more true five or ten years ago when T1 lines cost much more than they do today.

So this brings me to my point - since all of the assorted Internet "economic impact" studies were done the price of fast web access has fallen like a rock.

Let's take a look at my personal situation - I live on Spruce Nubble Farm in rural Maine and there is no DSL, no cable, no traditional form of broadband Internet available at all - and I doubt there ever will be. So do I suffer on dial up? Of course not - I have a two way satellite system and I use that to get really nice and solid broadband web access. You know, one of those pizza sized dishes on the side of your house, you see them all over the place these days.

This type of service ranges from $60 to $350 a month - pretty much the exact same pricing that DSL or cable has. Are there businesses here in Franklin County Maine that aren't getting broadband access because they wish it was the $30 a month DSL sometimes is in the big cities? Sure there are - but a solution at about $75 a month is a heck of a lot different than the thousands per month it used to cost. We can not make the conclusion that business impact studies based upon decades old math will apply in the same way today. They just won't - math wins again, one of my favorite web lessons.

So if you've read this far you might be wondering what all this has to do with being an Internet Entrepreneur. Not a heck of a lot, that's true - but there is one lesson in this reality that you should really keep in mind.

In the land of web technology the ground is rapidly shifting under our feet all the time. What used to be "impossible" based on economics is "cheap" only a few years later, things that used to cost money become free, and on and on and on. This is why "long term goals" is always a part of the web strategy plans I make, what is not reasonable today may soon be very simple.

When you take something that has become conventional wisdom - like the idea that investing in broadband access will stimulate business growth - and use it in your business decisions you might be making an error.

Question your assumptions, revisit what used to be impossible, and do the best you can to keep in touch with the ever shifting technology ground under your feet.

A New Phone Number & Office Hours

To those of you that have tolerated my "mobile" status for the last few years, I thank you for your tolerance. The days of pops, hisses, squeals, and dropped calls are now over and I am pleased as punch to announce the birth of:

(207) 684-4000

In celebration of this new number - and because I love swiping great ideas from my buddy Michael Katz - I hereby announceOffice Hours on Tuesdays at 4 PM.

The calls are free, and I'm happy to chat about anything related to your website, your business, or the upcoming sappin season.

Every Tuesday, from 4-5PM EST: 207-684-4000