Andy Kessler

WSJ: Why Super-Fast Internet Is Coming Super Slowly - I Want My Gigahome!

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304315004579381463769362886

In 1982, rock star Pete Townshend asked Americans to call their cable operators and, "Demand your MTV. I want my MTV!" It's 2014, and two-minute music videos on a cable channel have given way to high-definition movies, concerts and sports streamed live to your TV, computer and phone. So where the heck is my superfast gigabit Internet access? Who do I even call?

 

IWMM 1 from fredseibert on Vimeo.

We know it's technically feasible. Google Fiber, with speeds up to 100 times faster than the basic broadband provided by your cable or phone company, is already up and running in Kansas City, Mo.; Austin, Texas; and Provo, Utah. And last week, Google announced it's in talks with 34 more cities. Even Chattanooga has gigabit broadband in 56,000 homes and businesses provided by the city-owned electric company, of all things.

Users everywhere rave about gigabit service—Web pages pop onto your screen, videos stream all over the house, maps jump as you move—and this is before any Web company has implemented a specific service that takes advantage of gigabit speeds.

It's economically feasible too. The average access speed in the U.S. is now under 10 megabits per second and costs around $40-$60. Verizon FiOS charges $300 a month for 500 megabit service. Yet Google and others charge just $70 a month for a full gigabit connection, download and upload. VTel in Springfield, Vt., charges $35. Gigabit in Hong Kong was $26 way back in 2011.

So what's America's problem? Why aren't more than a handful of U.S. homes wired for gigabit? Sadly, last week's announcement of Comcast's $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable will set back fiber deployment and gigabit homes for a decade. Comcast's competition-limited future will reside in overcharging more than 30 million customers for bundled cable channels and a growing Internet access business that tops out at maybe 20 megabits per second. It's almost as if they are saying, "You want fiber? Eat some Raisin Bran."

Almost half of Time Warner Cable revenues (and my guess is far more than half their profits) are from Internet access and digital voice. There's not much cable competition. Today, 30% of U.S. homes have either none or one provider of six megabits per second or better Internet access. Another 37% have only two providers, probably a cable company and a phone company duopoly who refuse to compete on price or speed. So cash flow goes toward paying down debt rather than upgrading your home.

WSJ: Don't Tread on Me—or Make Me Stand in Line

American exceptionalism includes hating to queue. Silicon Valley has been happy to help out.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304558804579375652654312862

What is the heart of American exceptionalism? Is it Alexis de Tocqueville's "they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom"? How about Abraham Lincoln's "conceived in liberty"? Or Ronald Reagan's spirit of rugged individualism? Meh. Those are answers for a high-school civics exam. It's actually much simpler: Americans will put up with just about anything—except for waiting in line.

It's no coincidence that nearly every important technology development of the past 20 years also happens to be a line-killer. Print-at-home boarding passes, automatic hotel checkout, bar code scanners. ATMs to avoid waiting for—and talking with—bank tellers. And when's the last time anyone has waited to use a pay phone?

This productivity revolution based on queue-quashing has just begun, yet even now you can almost live your entire life without waiting in line. Amazon Prime will deliver most of what you need within two days. The taxi-on-demand service Uber lets you snake the cab line. FasTrak in California and E-ZPass in New York and New Jersey zip you into the quick lane to pay tolls. Heck, people are even buying ugly, overpriced Priuses to experience the nirvana of H.O.V. carpool lanes.

Fandango does away with lines for movie tickets, and Netflix  posts the entire season of "House of Cards" at once so there's no more waiting for the next episode. At Disneyland, Fastpass, their "virtual queue system," eliminates waiting for Indiana Jones Adventure. Self-checkout lines at Safeway,  ShopRite and Home Depot  make swiping Visa  cards quicker. A new company named QLess has a mobile app to eliminate lines at restaurants and stores by sending an alert to your phone when they're ready for you.

Europeans, on the other hand, seem to relish a chance to wait. Maybe it's the Continent's off-and-on love affair with socialism that causes them to think nothing of lining up for tickets, for trains, for museums, or for a chance to curtsy before the queen. Americans demand instant gratification. Lines are for losers.

The underlying technology of line avoidance is a great American success story.