Off topic ?

[Rob M.]

All,

Just a small question for my concideration while building the C1Registry.com and our '59 Project site: How much Americans (in percentage) have these days ADSL or cable internet (internet access with high bandwith). I'm currently setting up an section with all kind of vintage magazine ads and articles onto the C1Registry site but these images are rather big if they are shown in supersize mode. I've build a thumbnail view mode (480 x ???) but the supersize view mode shows images of 1.5 MB each and I wonder if this is still acceptable for my US audience.

In the Netherlands internet with is widely spread with bandwith of 256/64 till 2048/512 connection available to at least 70% of the internet community (which would be interrested in Corvette topics) but maybe the situation in the States is quite different.

thanks for your feedback,
Rob.

[Verle R.]

Re: Off topic ?

I have a dial up connection. 1.5 MB files kill me.

Verle

[Tom D.]

I've heard 20-40 percent DSL or Cable *NM*

My Parts viewing site

[mike yager]

Re: Off topic ?

Rob:

High speed residential connections in the US are still quite low. It will vary by geographic regions with urban/suburban areas having higher penetration rates but even this varies. A country like the Netherlands benefits from its size in this regard. The investment in wiring homes for high speed connections is less with people living closer together.

I live outside of Washington, DC about 40 miles from the White House in Northern VA. While it is not really suburban, its not the country either. No cable or DSL where I live. I have a satellite internet connection - its the only option other than dial-up. It has pretty good speed - about 1Mb downloads, a little slower on uploads. However, my set up is definitely the exception.

When you consider that AOL, MCI and several other large internet/telecom companies are headquartered in Noerthern VA, its appalling how many people do not have access to a high speed internet connection here. I am only about a half hour's drive from AOL's HQ. I have friends that live a couple of miles from AOL and only recently were able to have a high speed connection via their cable TV company. All this is even more amazing given that more than half of the world's internet traffic passes through Northern Virginia. Yep, that's right, half of the world. With the Federal Government, Pentagon, CIA, MCI, AOL, etc located in Northern VA, its believable (and hopefully not very vulnerable).

Anyway, figure on a 56k connection at best for your site.

[Wayne M.]

USA = 43% Broadband Pentration ....

... per one of the major PC mags, currently on newstands. As Mike Y. states, this is surprisingly low (Hong Kong = 97% is tops; Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and a few others exceed USA). Britain is slightly lower. Mostly due to the geography and government policies, as Mike indicates.