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In South Korea for instance, broadband flows like water and there has been a huge uptake. The downside of this is that many of Korea's computers are being used (often unwittingly) to send or relay spam in huge volumes.

Closer to home, our own government has committed to ensuring that as many Kiwis as possible have access to some kind of broadband service.

In fact, in at least one way we've been a world leader in the evolution of broadband. I refer of course to the issue of charging by volume and the use of data caps to limit a user's usage.

It seems that over in the USA, AT&T and Comcast are about to introduce download caps on their broadband services.

Now, given the cost of providing service in areas of lower population density and the relatively high cost of broadband, one really has to ask "do we really need it?"

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The vision portrayed by broadband providers is one where webpages load in the blink of an eye, streaming video looks more like regular TV than a grainy, jerky, animated postage stamp, and it becomes practical to download even the largest files in just a few brief minutes.

However, despite all these apparent benefits, the uptake of broadband Internet, even in countries where it's relatively cheap and readily available, seems disappointingly low.

So does broadband really deliver on its promises?

Well yes, some webpages will load in the blink of an eye -- but others won't, simply because they're delivered by slow servers or have insufficiently bandwidth on their own Net connection.

Streaming video is sometimes a lot better than the stuff you see on dial-up -- but there's really not a whole lot of broadband streaming video worth watching. In fact, an increasing number of websites are classifying this type of stuff as "premium content" and only making it available to those who are prepared to pay a subscription.

Need to download large files? Well broadband will save you a lot of time when compared to a dial-up connection -- but then the data-cap and per-MB charges start to kick in. The experience can be a lot like going to a good party -- it's a whole lot of fun at the time but you can regret it later (when the bill arrives).

Ah.. but what about the "always online" aspect of DSL? No need to dial-up and log-in when you want to surf the web, check your email or transfer files. That's got to be good -- right?

Well if you're a Telecom DSL user then it's a double-edged blade. Being always online means you could end up with a whopping great bill if some nefarious sod decides to send you IP packets you didn't ask for. That data cap and per-MB charge means that, unknown to you, your broadband connection could be secretly bankrupting you. It also means that your firewall better be pretty damned good since the hackers can spend 24/7 trying to break in.

So let's face it -- to the average Net user, a broadband connection doesn't really offer a whole lot for the extra money does it?

It might save you from having to install a second line and it might have a great "wow" factor -- but why would the "average" user pay two or three times as much just so that Aardvark loads in 3 seconds instead of 15?

Well don't tell anyone -- but I suspect the main reason (outside of business/education) that people want broadband is for things like P2P file-sharing and (gasp) porn!

Yes, as we all know, there's a very active community of people who use their PCs to exchange music, recorded TV programmes/movies, and porn.

I strongly suspect that a huge percentage of "consumer" DSL traffic consists of one or more of these commodities.

Which leaves me wondering how long before the recording and movie industries start putting pressure on the broadband providers or (shudder) even start demanding a copyright levy in much the same way that some countries impose a recording artists' tax on blank media.

Oh no, I hope I haven't put another stupid idea into the music industry's already confused mind.

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