Slouching Toward Broadband

Most consumers experienced the Internet at the limits of traditional dial-up modems: 56,000 bits per second (56 kbs) or slower. The reasons for the slower than expected adoption of broadband in the United States varied according to viewpoint. Some pointed to poor regulatory oversight and as a function of this, the high cost of broadband services, as the reason for slow adoption. Others blamed the slow adoption of broadband on a lack of popular broadband products, the so-called “killer applications,” which would drive consumers to broadband.