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BROADBAND

knowledge systems – became the bricoleur’s trademark, and
postmodernism’s signature line.

BROADBAND

Broadband can refer to a range of technologies intended to provide
greater bandwidth (data capacity) within a network. Narrowband –
broadband’s predecessor – utilised dial-up connection via telephone
lines without the capacity for multiple channels of data transmission,
making it slowin comparison. It has been estimated that about one
third of narrowband users’ time is spent waiting for content to
download (Office of the e-Envoy, 2001), earning the World Wide
Web the reputation of the ‘Word Wide Wait’. Available via upgraded
telephone and cable lines as well as wireless transmission, broadband
provides high-speed Internet access. With greater bandwidth, users are
able to access and distribute video, audio and graphic-rich applica-
tions.
It is hoped that by replacing narrowband with broadband, higher
rates of connectivity will be achieved – that people will spend more
time online with permanent and time-efficient connection. Broad-
band is also expected to encourage e-commerce through new
application possibilities offering a wider range of services.
Although bandwidth may have greater capacities, concerns have
surfaced in the US that the introduction of broadband will mean more
limited choices for the Internet community. Cable companies who
also own or are in partnership with particular Internet service
providers (ISPs), or who have specific contractual obligations to an ISP,
are capable of dominating the broadband market by not providing free
access to unaffiliated ISPs. Internet users who wish to use an
alternative ISP could potentially be made to pay for both the cable
company’s ISP as well as the ISP of their choice. This issue came to a
head in the US in 1998 with the merger of AT&T and TCI. The
independent regulator (the Federal Communications Commission)
had the opportunity to impose open access stipulation. However, it
was deemed at the time that such an imposition would inhibit the roll
out of the costly infrastructure which was being driven by the private
investment. This remains a contested issue.