Great Why Broadband Matters Videos

While perusing the list of sites that have linked to my VidChats, I discovered a terrific UK-based blog all about fiber called Fiberevolution.

In addition to recommending that site for anyone interested in keeping up to date on all things fiber, especially from an international perspective, while looking through it I discovered another post that featured a video from the Ofcom Consumer Panel. Ofcom is the regulator for the UK communications industry.

The video in question was a fantastic piece contrasting the Internet experiences of people in UTOPIA, that municipal full fiber build in Utah, versus what users in the UK have to deal with, especially in rural areas where connectivity is not only slow, it's unreliable.

While it doesn't necessarily highlight anything truly revolutionary going on in terms of applications in UTOPIA, it does provide terrific insight into how much faster UTOPIA is, how frustrated UK broadband subscribers are, and how much of an impact lower speeds have on Internet usage in the UK.

Entitled "Across the Generations: Contrasting Experiences of Broadband," you can watch it here:

After watching this I found that Ofcom has another video on YouTube, this one entitled "Older People and Technology" and consisting of interviews with older people who have issues keeping up with technology.

Though it doesn't necessarily contain any earth-shattering new insight, it was still fascinating to watch people refer to how they don't use anything digital, how it's all too confusing, and how their technological understanding stopped at the invention of the gramophone.

It's a stark reminder that there's a large segment of the population who are almost completely removed from the digital age. Though it was interesting at one point one gentleman mentioned how he knew he was going to ultimately go digital with his TV because he likes watching it. So it's not necessarily that these are people who refuse to use technology, but rather they don't know why they should use, how to use it, and what they could be doing if they were using it.

Watch here: