Three weeks without my PC! But now I'm flying with an excellent broadband connection -- indeed, yesterday I ran a test at BandwidthPlace.com in which my throughput rate was deemed "fantastic" as determined by connecting with the host's server in San Antonio, TX. I live in a small (pop: 5,000) community in which both high-speed ADSL & Cable services are available. I choose the former account. Here in Canada a so-called "Condo Model" has been used to encourage ISPs to deploy their broadband services on a quite rapid pace of rollout. It is essentially achieved by customers committing to buy the fiber optic services as an incentive for companies to run fiber optic cable to their locations. Canadian municipalities have created an affordable system with this commitment from end-users. This is comparable to time-share buyers purchasing condo apartments at a discount before they are actually built. Additionally, municipalities in Canada have intervened in the market, leveraging their telecom purchasing power by awarding contracts to a consortium of service providers that agree to run fiber optics throughout the metropolitan area. The municipality is relatively aggresive in providing incentives for the "build-out" in infrastructure, while the private companies provide the fiber optic broadband service to customers. However, I suspect the Canadian model may not be feasible for large US cities where high labor costs and municipal red tape prevent any further cost-effective expansions of fiber optic service. Moreover, I think that in cities such as NYC & Chicago, currently strung fiber optic technology is heavily concentrated in commercial building zoned in the downtown core sections. Although there are sizeable numbers of fiber optic "highways" running outside these core areas, there may not be cost-effective ways to build a system of feeder "roads" that will take the fiber optic wiring to greater numbers of business & residential customers. But the future may well lie in 3G & other wireless protocols -- with up to 54Mbps throughput rates....