If you think back several years, you can easily remember how broadband internet access was touted. The basic idea was that with the increasing rate of transmission offered by broadband access connections, people would become far more productive creatures than they ever had before. They would make massive leaps in research, telecommuting would become an everyday occurence, and the home and workplace would merge forever. Well we've had some time to review. Has this broadband vision become our reality?

Broadband access has delivered on many of its promises. People can now download music and video faster than ever before. Tasks that used to be laborious on a dialup connection are now almost instantaneous on a fast internet connection. Those of us who've been using broadband for awhile should remember what the days of the 2400bps were like. And we should never forget just how slow and frustrating life in the slow lane could be.