Broadband, DSL, and the Race for Internet Connectivity

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Broadband, DSL, and the Race for Internet Connectivity

Abstract This paper discusses current technologies and trends relating to Internet connectivity. Broadband cable, DSL, and fixed wireless are examined. Issues addressed relating to these technologies are the potential for providers to favor specific content on broadband cable and the 'digital divide' or the trend of inaccessibility of the internet in poor and rural areas.

In recent years, the Internet has radically changed both our economic and social institutions. The driving force behind the Internet has been increasingly cheap, fast, and reliable connections between distant machines. As Internet connectivity increases, internetworking can be used in more places for more purposes. Until recently, businesses and consumers depended on modems to connect to the Internet, but now several new technologies are being used to continue the trend of greater connectivity. These include digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable modems, and fixed wireless networks.

This paper briefly examines each of these new technologies. More important than the details of how they work, however, is the effect they will have on the Internet and society. This paper discusses two of the biggest issues: corporate control of Internet content and equal access to the Internet by all races and classes. The creators of the Internet designed a system where all people everywhere could access the inter-network and where information sharing could not be suppressed. However, the cost of implementing these technologies has resulted in greater access for affluent communities, putting poor and rural communities at an economic disadvantage; this inequ...

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