Just as amperage is only one parameter of electrical power, bandwidth is just one aspect of communication. When you make a phone call, you’re paying not just to temporarily own part of the network’s bandwidth, but also for the time it takes your call to get from point A to point B.
Predictor: Steinberg, Steve G.
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article listing tech items and issues that are currently being hyped, Steve Steinberg of Wired magazine writes: ”Back when nuclear energy seemed just around the corner, experts spoke in reverent tones of ‘electricity too cheap to meter.’ Now that fiber-to-the-curb seems imminent, pundits are making similar predictions about bandwidth and telephone service. They are missing the point. Just as amperage is only one parameter of electrical power, bandwidth is just one aspect of communication. When you make a phone call, you’re paying not just to temporarily own part of the network’s bandwidth, but also for the time it takes your call to get from point A to point B.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Bandwidth
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Hype List: Unlimited Bandwidth
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.04/hypelist.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney