This BBC article is a good primer to the world of broadband Internet access for the consumer. While it's not directly related to this blog's theme, it ties into what type of content/experience people will be able to have online.

An excerpt:

The internet is a network of pathways and connections, criss-crossing the world.

Data flows along them like water along rivers.

But we are all craving more data, and the internet service providers are finding ways to get more and more data down the lines into our homes.

Where older, dial-up connections achieved data rates of thousands of bits, or kilobits, per second, newer broadband connections can reach speeds of millions, or megabits, per second (mbps).

The fastest home broadband connection currently available in the UK is 8 mbps, but this speed is by no means record-breaking.

In South Korea, super-fast broadband is a way of life, and one French service offers 20 mbps.

As a point of comparison, I have a DSL service from Sympatico, which I believe tops out at 1.5 mbps.

The article also talks about why a faster connection doesn't necessarily guarantee better performance, the limitations of slow upload -- and the implications thereof, and the possibility of Internet gridlock.