Good article
Some very telling comments in the article, especially regarding BTs unwillingness to embrace the connected era, doing everything negative that monopolies do, but somehow managing not to be called a monopoly.
My Internet connection was first via Compuserve's walled garden in 1990. Then we were on a small Southampton-based ISP whose name I can't recall connecting using Trumpet Winsock in the mid 90s. Connected with a Mac Classic too. Later Demon's 0800 access allowed the connection effectively to remain up (although I once had BT disconnect my second, modem line, because they needed it for a new customer in the neighbourhood...) Home Highway was good, but the lack of compression on ISDN meant it often appeared slower in use than a good modem. And while connection was quick, negotiating the link once the connection was made was just as slow.
Re the 21CN, this always meant much more to BT marketing droids than to anything else. I recall a boring discussion when I finally managed to liven up a 10Mb/s fibre connection via a competitor, the BT droid carrying on about the wonders of 21CN, and how moving to the competitor would leave us left behind, while he was offering overpriced megastreams. It was always, and still is, jam tomorrow. In every company I have been with, moving from BT or keeping them at arms length via a 3rd party made life easier.
Yes, looking back, we have had to fight every step of the way to a connected world, rather than being led by companies who should be offering us leading options.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
