Digital Divide ...

In an age of broadband, wifi, 3G and other hi-tech communications, it is amazing to return to analogue dial-up where the speed ranges from 26.1 kbps to 28.2 kbps; i.e I assumed this refers to the speed of connection. (I’m no techie but when you click at the icon of the dial-up, you can find “speed”, "sent" and "received" in the pop-up.)

It took nearly 5 minutes to log in the prepaid website to change my password; another 5 minutes or so to go to the next step blah blah. It was just too slow for comfort.

I decided to pop by the prepaid provider’s service centre this afternoon and see if there’s anything wrong with the prepaid. The guy at Counter was very helpful – telling me a bunch of stuff I don’t quite understand! The speed depends on the built-in modem. He said external modem gives better speed. And if your phone line is 10 years old (or more), it may impede the speed of your internet connection. HA! Bet you didn’t know that!

No worries – he’ll lodge a request and get the Technical Dept to come and check the cable (the one from the main telephone pole to the house). When can the request be attended to? It depends on the Technical Dept but usually within 24 hours. Sigh – today being a Friday, the earliest anyone will be at my place to check the cable will be Monday.

“How about wifi service?”, I asked.

HUH?

“This is small town lah – only bigger town get it."

How disappointing. My home town is a thriving river port with a population of about 150,000. It’s a busy town with lots of commercial activities. It is one of the gateways to the interiors of the state.

I know some of my friends here are using a broadband service but why no WIFI? What are the criteria before a WIFI gets to a town? I asked one of my friends and she didn’t think that people would tote their laptops around town!

Does it mean that my poor town may never get onto WIFI mode in the near future? Will we be forever wired?

When I think of Bangsar, KLCC or Sri Hartamas where you can find at least one wifi service, the digital divide between a small town and the capital is never more obvious.