I’ve seen many articles about residential broadband and its growing popularity in the US. I always ask my classroom students if they use broadband or dialup. In 2002, I usually had 5 or 10 students in each class who used dialup or who had no internet connection at home.
This semester, most of my students have broadband at home. Even so, it seems like most of of my students have no idea how fast their broadband connection is. I’m not surprised. Services can claim that the offer the “fastest”, “most reliable” or “best” connection.
As Wired pointed out earlier today, the FCC doesn’t require Time Warner Cable, Hawaiian Telcom, Clearwire, or any residential broadband provider to disclose speed data to customers! In fact, most broadband ISPs prefer to avoid the topic altogether.
Of course, there are several ways for users to test the speed of their broadband connection. I have accounts on Speakeasy or BroadbandReports, as these tests are web-based and free. Both services store my previous results, so I can compare results from various locations, devices, carriers and days.
When running these tests, it’s a good idea to close down any other programs or processes that are using the interent on the same machine. If I run these tests at home, I close down every other computer that is on my home network, as they are linked to my router and my internet connection.
High-speed residential broadband is faster and more redily available in other countries. South Korea is a good example. Then again, that country has a large population (49 million) crammed into a land mass smaller than many US states.
The quality and availability of residential broadband are two key factors that influence the adoption of e-commerce by consumers. Consumers are less likely to shop on the internet if they have a slow connection. Consumers who use dialup or slow broadband connections seem more liekly to lose patience and abandon their online shopping carts.
Abandoned carts are one metric that sellers can analyze to measure the success of their e-commerce efforts. Sometimes I have abandoned an online cart because all I wanted was a price or a shipping quote. I’ve dumped more than a few online shopping carts because I had to register for the site before my purchase. Once in a while, I get to the payment page and realize that the merchant doesn’t support Paypal or one of my payment cards.
Of course, consumers are very unlikely to use e-commerce themselves if they have no internet connection. As I mentioned in last week’s class, however, because more businesses use e-commerce to order supplies and sell products, more consumers are becoming involved in e-ecommerce in a more indirect ways.
I recently had a conversation with the owner of Bungalow Bay, a store that sells t-shirts and other items at Aloha Tower and online. E-commerce has helped him sell items to an international market, through the store’s web site and eBay listings. These online purchases sometimes catch local customers by surprise when the store runs out of popular items!
Mobile phone users are finding more reasons to use e-commerce. Phone carriers are driving customers online to computers for bill payment, customer support, and other services. It’s cheaper to have the customer do the work than someone in a call center. Electronic payments are usually less expensive to process than paper checks. Carriers, utility and finance companies are pushing consumers to schedule their monthly or regular online payments, as one more way to guarantee that customers will pay what they owe on time.
T-Mobile’s Sidekick devices and all Windows Mobile phones rely on a computer to help the user synchronize and use data. The Apple iPhone will bring similar capabilities to the Mac in June.
Amazon, Paypal and other companies have been developing mobile APIs and sites that let mobile users order and pay for products and services with their PDA or phone. Google supports searches, maps, Gmail and other services on mobile phones and on SMS. Try sending a search such as the ones shown in this example to 466453.
Outside the US, it’s not unusual to find vending machines that will accept payment via SMS instead of coins, bills or cards. Here’s an example that Esther Dyson found in Poland last November 21. Coins are heavy and expensive to retrieve by vending and laundry machine operators. Paper money is even more difficult to use with some vending machines, although I know some folks who disagree with me.
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