Well said Maggie, and welcome back! It's not about speeding up your pr0n streaming or seamlessly viewing Facebook videos. It's about being able to accurately view and assist medical operations from afar, or ensuring that the learning of tertiary, trade and school students is not hindered by an institution or network's inadequate internet allowance, that cartoon, advertising and game manufacturers can professionally display their products online, and that video conferencing approximates reality rather than providing stuttered or ghosted images of a high-powered meeting of business moguls or politicians.
Technically, commercially, communicatively, socially, lustfully or just for personal entertainment, the internet is taken for granted. It no longer has even novelty value at a lower third world level. I've seen beggars in filthy clothes chatting on their mobile phone.
The women who clean the rooms at this guest house in Phnom Penh spent much of today lounging on the couches on the penultimate 6th floor level with their ipads, checking their Facebooks and taking selfies of these satisfyingly self-indulgent moments of inactivity. Not that I in any way begrudge them shirking the challenge of an eternity of stair climbing and making up rooms, twirling towels into swans or orchid shapes or improving the shine on the tiled floor.
You don't even consider staying at any accommodation that doesn't have good wifi - booking.com's review section of each place gives you an accurate idea of its' wifi strength and reach (%positive). The best rooms are those next to a router. Every restaurant that you'd ever bother to eat at has wifi. Every single person on a train or bus is looking into their phone. It's ubiquitous and everywhere.
We had a good shot at getting it right for $50 billion and the Libs subsequently compromised the futuristic vision of equal and quick internet access as a right to be enjoyed by all. We lack politicians who combine commitment and foresight with the balls to back their judgement.
