Hi All

Here is an interesting article related to an FCC docket about what
people need from broadband. Comments are definitely invited. Even if
the techno-mumbo-jumbo is too much, your experiences and priorities in
your own words are important.

http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/09/big-cable-to-fcc-dont-define-broadband-by-its-actual-speed.ars

(If the link above does not work, go to arstechnica.com and put
broadband into the search bar. This story is about the third item in
the list.)

I think it is important for people in different geographical areas to
comment about what you need or want in faster / more powerful
connections.

Here are a few different thoughts I have
--In some ways, I think the ability to do realtime video somewhere
near where one lives if not actually in one's own home could be really
important for people participating in distance education. The
technology to support that would also support thinks like high-volume
image exchange for real-time medical consultations.

--I do not necessarily think the basket of services a person might
need is determined only by his or her own disability. For example, I
really might not care about anything but audio from a video feed (well
my needs are messier than that) but someone collaborating with me who
has a hearing impairment and lipreads might really appreciate it if I
have video conferencing capacity.

--This article did not mention pricing and I will try to read the
docket to see whether this specific comment option addresses pricing
in any way. I get crabby about paying full price for a bunch of
features I cannot use and then having to pay extra for features I
really need.

I hope this is interesting to others.

DoreneC
Seattle WA


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