Om Malik asks:
Sure at 30 Mbps you can download DVD quality The Bourne Identity in 11 minutes, but its still going to take you 2 hours to watch it. These are analog questions in an increasingly digital world.
At 11 minutes of download, I’m going to decide which movie to watch now, go make the popcorn and set up the couch, and enjoy it. At 3.7hrs download, deciding on which movie to watch tomorrow, I’ll just keep using NetFlix.
Broadband speeds do make a difference. And sure I wouldn’t be consuming 30 MBps every hour of the day, in face by this calculation I wouldn’t be consuming it from more than an hour a week (that’s 5 movies!). Which is why it’s economically viable to offer me breakneck speed broadband, for a reasonable monthly charge.