Confession: I am one of the people living without broadband internet access. Approximately 41% of the US internet home users access it through dialup lines as of June, 2005. I try not to think of it as a disadvantage. I don't have a choice.

I live in a rural area. No cable company services our town. Our telephone lines and junctions are too old for DSL. The telephone company says it would cost too much to rewire the town so they have no plans to do so. The only possible option is satellite internet which requires an initial investment of between $500-$1,000 and a contract for a year. This might not sound like much money to some people but it is to me.

I'm not weeping about it. (Ok, this is a bit of pissing and moaning.) I've tailored my browsing habits to my pokey speed of 36.6 Kb. I've learned to avoid most downloads over 1 meg unless I really want it. I tend to shy away from graphic heavy sites or blogs. I like Norbizness but his page loads for several minutes at my speed. The text comes through fairly quickly, just the graphic take a while.

So when I hear talk about the "digital divide," I understand it. For some of us, high speed access is not an option.