The Internet? It's just a passing fad.

Set your sights on Internet2.

Black hole?

I disagree. Would you rather pay for google? Or this page for instance?

And what will be different about Internet2?
Will it spontaneously make the world different?

If it is so terrible, then why are you on it now?

Besides, those answers don't even respond to the question asked. Again, all i wanted to know was how fast people's connections were.

Sorry for being flippant.

From my ISPs website.

"Modem set-up of up to 8.0 Mbps download and 800 Kbps upload."

What my actual performance is, I have no idea. I'm running broadband cable in Toronto.

And Internet2 is the fastest, it's just not public. Governments and Universities only, and it's an ongoing project. Eventually it will trickled down to us though.

Ah my dear nieve freind.... Of course i pay for Google - via advertising (and probably passive spyware as well), and this forum via bying the game - this forum website is funded by profits from sales of the game, sales meaning money that you and i paid.

My point is that the internet is at the mercy and dictates of the commercial world which like a black hole, is a very powerful force that even light cannot escape!! lol

I think you are confusing the internet, which is a collection of hardware, with the software that people use to access it. The internet is simply a bunch of computers, servers, switches, routers, cables (fiber optic and other), etc. that span the globe and are joined together by a common communication protocol (TCP/IP). That's it. What we do with this internet entirely up to the software. This software is only limited by human ingenuity. To standardize any further would mean to add some type of restrictions or rules. If some group decided to enforce new rules of standardization to software using the internet, they would be effectively cutting themselves off from the the majority that would undoubtedly reject their vision for new world order. You could also end up with various factions disagreeing about what these standards should be and then you've got a bunch of stuff that won't work together. That's basicly what you've got with various companies wanting their web browser to set the standard, and is why you've got the java/C# battle between Microsoft and Sun.

Oh, I usually connect via my wireless laptop and see about 54MBS speed.

Commercial interests on the internet are like weeds, weeds in competition with each other to the extent that it creates somewhat of a balance - remember the Simpsons episode where Mr burns had so many bad deseases that they cancelled each other out... yea kinda like that! so your link would indeed appear if it were not for all the bigger nastier weeds getting in your way!

Sorry, you got it backwards.

The internet is a shortend term from it's original name which was the Inter-network. Any network is a collection of physical hardware. I would not call a telephone conversation a network, no. I also wouldn't call the software running on the internet, the internet. Your analagy makes my point perfectly: The Phone Network is to a conversation as the Internet is to the software using it.

I like stuffy old things, my favorite chair, my first teddy-bear, and definitions of civilization-altering technologies.

Yes, I agree that the user was refering to the internet in the manner you described. And there's nothing wrong with tweeking the definition a bit, as long as it's universally understood. However, I think it is helpful to understand the old definition before changing to a new one.

I imagine one day some whipper-snapper will start referring to any downloadable music as an "iPod". I'd exclaim, "No, the iPod is hardware!", but no one would listen because they changed the definition while I was out shopping for depends.   

The internet is an idea. It's a collective thought. Never before in the history of our species have we been able to communicate 'whatever' so readily. Good or bad.

Interesting times.

Here is an interesting comparison - Lets look at the roads network for example;

So lets say roads are like the network for the internet, and the vehicles are like the information on the network.

Is there a defining word for our roads network that compares to the word 'internet'?
roads? Ok then, we should call the internet 'wires'!

768kps. DSL. It's really all I need. IF I were to add something to the internet, it would be more compatibility across platform/browser. Really, The internet should appear the same to everyone regardless of operating system or browser.

An apt analogy. It was once called the super-information highway.

Whatever the means of transport, it's not just a tangle of wires and wireless. It's a concept. An old one at that.