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Garber Rant: The future of World Communications

Written by: Anne Garber

Article Overview: Who's your daddy? Not local telcoms, that's a sure bet!

Garber Rant: The future of World Communications

by Anne Garber

In Canada, telecommunications represent the power that binds us together as a people. We're a little ribbon of a country, strung like Christmas lights across the lid of the United States, and the energy that makes us glow is the ability to talk to one another.

The Genesis of my Angst:
That's one of the reasons I've been so enraged over the years to watch the powers-that-be in Toronto and Ottawa make decisions that affect our lonely provinces 'Way Out West without a second thought to what binds us together in the first place. Sure, CBC can take another hit. Bail out that National Airline that charges usurious fees to Canadians, in order that they might transverse the hundredth meridian at top-dollar rates (even though as taxpayers, we are footing the bill). Undermine the National Railway and it just might be the Last Spike, n'est-ce pas?

Our country was BUILT on transportation and communication, so why revere those roots? Because they are the only things defining us AS Canadians, that's why!

Meanwhile, the connections -- and common ground -- out here in Cascadia (Western BC, Coastal Washington and Oregon) have everything to do with transportation and communication. And communications have taken a big one-eighty in the last couple of years.

No longer are we guarding borders from thought; no longer are we celebrating the differences, but enjoying our common ground. Here in BC, we love Seattle: We love the arts scene, the home-made goodies, the farm markets. We appreciate each other to a degree that we often suspect the rest of our respective countries do not respect us.

The Pacific Northwest is a haven for communicators. Why else would we now assume our iPods and laptops are appendages as important as arms and legs? We are PLUGGED IN, dude!

The future IS friendly:

So what does the future hold? Who would have guessed a mere ten years ago that we would be so tied to our computers and internet connectivity that we would be making hotel reservations based on whether or not the place had free high-speed?

Today, my husband John and I are building up our Marriott points, because we know that wherever we travel in the world, we can count on getting high-speed internet access at no extra charge with our room.

And laptops today virtually always have wireless cards pre-installed, making internet access pretty well universal. When my son bought his new laptop last year, on the brief drive back from Future Shop to our home he fired it up. On that short trip, he found some eight "unsecured" (ie open) wireless signals, and was able to go online all the way home, by hopping from one to another.

Local bloggers post great locations in Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle where laptop-users can pick up strong signals.

And whole cities are becoming aware of the benefits of offering easy-access -- and even free -- connectivity. I mean, if you could book your conference in a city that could give all your delegates free internet access throughout the whole convention area, wouldn't you choose that city over another that couldn't make the same offer?

Philadelphia might be the first city to actually adopt such a policy. But according to a New York Times editorial on Tuesday, a similar plan is in the works in Chicago.

Who will be first across the finish line? For us as consumer-travellers, it is a moot point. After all, when one city goes Free Wireless, the others would be crazy not to follow suit.

Who would oppose this natural progression? Well, of course, the telcoms and internet providers will shout the loudest "nays," because free internet will cut into their profit margins. Oh, boo-hoo.

Who will profit?
The big bucks will undoubtedly be in those companies that respect the original intention of the internet, which is all about the free exchange of information and ideas. Advertisers are already flocking to the internet, instead of their traditional newspaper and television outlets, although radio is still a worthwhile medium. And radio remains strong also because it can easily adapt to the internet, too.

Also profiting will be firms that service computers, offer upgrades, and providing "bridging" items that make laptops adapt for use decoding broadcast signals, MP3s, movies, games and other forms of entertainment.

Telephonies need not apply:
But the really huge changes are already becoming apparent. In the VoIP and "Telephony" areas of communication development, big moves are afoot. Skype -- which may well have been "first in" -- has some flaws, and some price tags that could well turn off consumers. I found the sound quality to often be poor, and it has a functionality that makes it difficult to talk while the other person is talking -- much the way a speaker phone cuts out when one of you interrupts.

On the plus side, Skype does offer Skype-In and Skype-Out, which allow subscribers to talk from a computer to a land-line (a regular phone-set).

Google Talk is a free function available to anyone with a gmail account. We have found Google Talk to work much better computer-to-computer. Sound quality is excellent, and several people can all talk at once, with no cut-outs, and no static. We are looking forward to being able to talk to our parents daily this year via Google Talk, while we are in Europe this fall.

The end of the Telephone company:
So here's my prediction, for the record: Ten years from now, the telephone company, as we know and hate it, will have disappeared. We will all communicate via satellite, and virtually every part of the globe will be "in range." Communications of this sort will be free to all citizens of Earth, and that access to communication and information will have a profound affect on how we relate to each other (I'm hoping for the better, naturally). It's a Small World, after all.

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Article Tags: anne garber, appendages, arms and legs, cascadia, christmas lights, coastal washington, common ground, communicators, dollar rates, farm markets, hundredth meridian, internet connectivity, national airline, national railway, one eighty, pacific northwest, revere, second thought, top dollar, way out west



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