How Close Is the Internet to Becoming an Essential Service?

From Needpix.com  Used under Creative Commons Zero - CC0

You know, when I was born in 1959, the rotary phone was ubiquitous. But each household normally only had one and that single phone was more often than not located in the main hallway of the home. My family because my father was a doctor with polio had two, the "normal" one in the hallway and an additional phone at my parents bedside without 40 foot (12.9 m) extension cord which was hardwired into the wall.

Fast forward to today, and I don't use a landline although there is one because it was previously installed with this apartment complex and is active. Nor do I know the number off by heart, of course I know my cell phones number, picked precisely because it was easy for my eldest brother to remember. Not only are landline's quickly becoming a thing of the past in modern cities I am willing to bet that although everyone's smart phones are constantly and use the, the percentage of time actually spent talking on them is probably far less then the time doing everything else with the device. How hooked in we all are, and it looks like we couldn't make it through the day if we were unplugged.

Just on a whim I inquired of my Google Assistant just how many times I had spoken with it across the various devices in one day. The answer was shocking… On average I speak to my technology 137 times per day, and that's the average!

Big difference between my parents era and now is that, for certain they could get along without the phone by simply communicating with their neighbours or going right down to meet with the person in question. Can you imagine the mayhem that would ensue, almost immediately. if the Internet and cell towers went down. A small version of this actually happened a few months ago here in my building. As everyone knows I live in a "supported living environment" which simply means that staff is is on hand 24 hours a day should I need assistance. I'm 60 years old with cerebral palsy and not quite the Superman I once was. Brain is still there but physically there is a little wear and tear showing up.

Anyway, the staff is on their own private Internet system and one day it just up and stopped. They were on the technical support so fast it was amazing. Further, some of the devices they use to keep the building and everyone coordinated were also down, so there was a real sense of urgency.

I think we are not too far from seeing the Internet declared an essential service which is the whole point of this little rambling. Within 10 years for sure and may be as little as 5. Actually now that I think about it I think the Canadian government has already set minimum speed requirements and I think it's 10 Mb which is more than enough stream 1080 P on your TV set.

This was a spur of the moment thought. I promise to have something more worthwhile posted over the weekend. Probably to do with a 60-year-old grandfather clock which is now up and running again thanks to an 82-year-old Master clock smith. Stay tuned and take care.

Patrick Clark