Dial-up customers in no hurry to join high-speed world

When Lisa Todnem shops for a new pair of Steve Madden shoes, don't expect to reach her via telephone.

Her phone line will be busy.

Todnem is a dial-up Internet subscriber, and she sees no need to change.

She can use it to conduct business as an agent for Farmers Insurance, check e-mail, check her family's Web page, do research and shop for shoes.

Her friends know not to send her photos or anything that takes a long time to download.

While she's happy taking the slower way to the information superhighway, Todnem is in the minority. Many want to keep up with the ever-changing Internet, which has long outgrown dial-up technology.

Playing videos on YouTube or using social networking sites such as MySpace.com are nearly impossible on such a slow connection. Even a simple task, like browsing a Web site, becomes difficult when the site is graphics-intensive.

And with many businesses having their employees telecommute, working from home through the Internet, a high-speed connection isn't just preferred, it's required.

"(Dial-up Internet) is totally unacceptable for most of us," says Ray Horak, an independent telecommunications writer and lecturer in Mount Vernon, Wash.

Dial-up is practically nonexistent in some parts of the world. In South Korea, for example, about 93 percent of all households have a high-speed Internet connection, ranking No. 1 in a report from The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.

But dial-up is far from dead here. Only 57 percent of households in the United States have a high-speed Internet connection, ranking 15th out of 30 countries, according to the same report from the ITIF.

Akamai Technologies, an Internet content delivery network provider in Cambridge, Mass., reported earlier this year that Washington state had the largest percentage of connections that were slower than 256 kilobits per second at 21 percent.

Suresh Kotha, a professor of management at the University of Washington, was cautions about comparing South Korea's connectivity to the United States.

It is much easier to install high-speed Internet services in a country with 48 million people, who mostly live in high-density apartment buildings, than a country like the United States, which has more than 300 million people who are much more spread apart, he said.

In the Yakima Valley, for example, there are plenty of rural areas that lack the population density for high-speed Internet service.

Countries like South Korea also have a lot more government intervention and subsidies, making it much easier to provide uniform service, Horak said.

"(The United States) doesn't play by those rules," he said. "(It's) a capitalist society and it's up to the providers to sort that out."

Indeed, the ITIF emphasizes that the United States needs to find a high-speed Internet model that works with the existing needs and conditions of the country.

But it also points out that the country could benefit from government incentives and programs to target rural areas that lack high-speed Internet service.

Until then, Don Davidson, owner of Computer Works of Yakima, will still offer dial-up service -- it's 60 percent of his business.

"We don't have a projected end date for dial-up," he said. "There's always customers out on the fringe of the city that can't get anything else."

Others are perfectly satisfied with slow Internet connections, Kotha said.

Such people are known as lagouts. They are the opposite of innovators, the people who must be the first to try a new technology.

In contrast, lagouts won't adapt to the new technology unless it's absolutely necessary. They may be happy just using e-mail, which doesn't require a high-speed connection.

"They won't move unless there aren't any other options," he said.

Todnem said if her kids need it for school, she might switch to a faster connection.

Until then, she's perfectly happy waiting the few extra minutes to browse for new shoes.

It only costs her $50 for three months of service. Depending on the service provider, a month of high-speed Internet can cost at least $50.

"For the (price) difference, I can learn a little bit of patience," she said.

* Mai Hoang can be reached at 577-7685 or mhoang@yakimaherald.com.

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