We will be offering Internet access at this time next year to anyone who wants it. We think it will be an easy decision for the consumer to pick cable Internet access over telephone access.
Predictor: Tassell, Alan
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article he wrote for Red Herring, Jonathan Burke talks to technology business leaders about the future of Internet access, quoting Alan Tassell, CEO of Comcast. Tassell says: ”Why hand the business to a middleman? We were already providing 85 percent of what the access providers were doing; all we needed was a gateway. So, we will be offering Internet access at this time next year to anyone who wants it. We think it will be an easy decision for the consumer to pick cable Internet access over telephone access. Right now you need a second phone line to get Web access, and that speed is very aggravating without ISDN. But where is ISDN? Some on the West Coast can get it. Otherwise, it’s unavailable. And ISDN is only good as long as the information content is textual. When you think about multimedia and downloading software, ISDN is slow. Try running Hot Java – your machine just dies. Going with ISDN also means paying $500-600 for ISDN equipment and then the $25-100 per month to Internet access providers. I can beat that and give them a faster service.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Pipeline/Switching/Hardware
Name of publication: Red Herring
Title, headline, chapter name: The Word On Internet Access
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue25/word.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry