Ultra high speed broadband

All of Singapore is going to have the infrastructure for ultra high speed broadband by 2015. By 2012, at least 50% will be completed. It is slated to bring broadband speed to 1 gigabit per second... compared to the 100 Mbps now, that's 10 times more.

But does that translate into faster surfing speeds? Will data be transferred faster?

Well... even if the network infrastructure is fast, you still need to think about the processing speeds of the computers being connected to that network. So if you are trying to access data from a slow computer, it will still take time before that information gets to you, even if you have HUGE bandwidth. In fact, what happens in such a case is unused bandwidth. It is like building a 10-lane expressway, when only 5 lanes will be used.

So while it may sound nice and cool, and seems like we are at staying ahead of the information highway, developing infrastructure is one thing. Making sure that you have the processing power to exploit that bandwidth is another thing that must not be overlooked.

And of course, what is all the bandwidth going to be used for?

Back in the days when bandwidth is scarce, people are innovative. They have to think hard to try and pack as much information as possible into as small a package as possible. Now, people think less about how to save bandwidth (since there is so much of it).

But is increasing bandwidth the way to go? Or should we be looking at developing the information to use that bandwidth?