But wait - I see construction signs up ahead and ruts in the I-way ~-~-~---/\--/\~~~--- . Seems like this new technology is not so perfect after all. I can't get up to speed. In fact, I'm getting pushed off the shoulder every five minutes. I'm going to call Al Gore and Newt the Grinch. Where's their fabulous, futuristic I-way?
A fellow down on the street, weathered looking in yellow overalls and a three day beard, tells me that it's not the new technology that's holding me up. It's plain old copper wire! Apparently we had a little wind last week while I was away - about 100 mph - and there are a few (thousand) phone lines still down. Maybe somewhere some of them are still attached but stretched a little thin.
So I roll my shiny new 28.8 back in the digital garage (with a prayer of thanks that it's not blown away) and reflect on how fragile and complex this magic new I-way is. When it works, it's a wonder. We had ten hits on our Web site last week from Indonesia! But no matter how robust the "nuclear attack resistant" Internet may be, if I can't get on it I can't go anywhere. And conversely, if my destination's been blown away (as our server was last week) I still can't go where I want to get.
So until Big Bill puts his 80 eyes in the sky for world-wide, wireless connections, I guess we are still tied to Civil War technology where the copper meets the I-Way.