I’ve been in the Northwest for the past few days now and very impressed that I have had Internet access in many places I did not expect. Port Townsend, WA and Orcas Island (part of the San Juans off the coast of Washington) both provided me my fix. Or did they?

Yes – it’s wireless, and it’s secure but it’s also SLOW. Broadband does not inherently mean fast. I’d rather have a 56k modem at the moment. So the next time you read an article with a headline ike US Broadband Penetration Nears 70% Among Active Internet Users, take it with a grain of salt.

My current bandwidth is 418 kbps download and a screaming 26 kbps upload (it took me three days to post this)…