Development Much Needed on the Data Highway

I have been a long-time, hard-core computer user for over 15 years in the international environment. I have moved more than 10 times from one country to another, and my job requires that I travel to more than 17 countries. I feel it's the small things that have to get straightened out first for the traveling "road warrior." It's fine to talk about how to get video and sound across continents (March cover story), but our first concern should be, How will we plug into this network? So let's get back to basics. For each city I travel to, I have to research what the nearest dial-in access point is. In the Boston area, I couldn't tell you if Boxborough, Stow, or Cambridge is closer to Westford or to Maynard. Perhaps a simple reality check would be for an American to travel from Boston, Massachusetts, to Bangor, Maine. If he or she can send an E-mail message in 3 minutes or less on arrival at either location, we'll be ready to start talking about how best to take advantage of fiber-link bandwidths.

Alan Scarboro

Geneva, Switzerland

I have read with fascination about the information super highway in recent BYTE issues. Being a resident of Kenya, where it's difficult to get a clear phone line (dedicated or not) to the next building, let alone the next town, BYTE sure puts things in perspective.

Jerry Tribe

Nairobi, Kenya

Technically, your data-highway article is up to the good standards I expect from BYTE. But socially? There's enthusiastic, multipage descriptions of commercial plans, profit making for vendors, and spending opportunities for affluent consumers. But where did the promised social issues (e.g., how it should be built) go?

Usage-based billing, as intended by tollway builders, puts pressure on users to reduce their connection time. One fee for unlimited connection , as today on the Internet, makes people adapt an "it's paid for, use it" mentality. This leads to the strong participation that has made the unique culture of the Internet. I have the impression that the government has chickened out in front of politically motivated cost-cutters and industry lobbyists. The citizens are again going to be the losers. Gore's vision of information bettering society looks hollow when you consider how one-sided it is being implemented.

Neil Franklin

Winterthur, Switzerland