KEY POINTS:
With all the 'my fibre network will be bigger than yours' political posturing that's going on at present, it's worth taking a step back to consider a real-life example of the benefits of decent internet connectivity.
Farmside is an internet service provider specialising in satellite connections for those in rural areas not served by the copper wire-based DSL network.
Apparently, during April, Farmside notched up a 97 per cent increase in the number of inquiries from rural folk interested in its services. And the demand hasn't let up this month either, says the company.
"Many of our new customers are citing rising fuel costs as one of the main reasons for getting satellite or wireless broadband," Farmside sales and marketing director Nick Carter said. "With the increase in online services offered by the retail, business and Government sectors, rural people are becoming more aware of how using the internet can save on travel costs."
Farmside went to the trouble of quantifying those potential savings. If the average rural driver was able to trim back their annual mileage by 20 per cent - which amounts to 3000km a year - by transacting online, they'd save themselves more than $900 annually. And that figure didn't include indirect savings and benefits such as gaining access to money-saving internet intelligence, for example the latest specials available at the local e-commerce enabled retailer.
Sure this was a shameless plug for Farmside's service (the cost of which, let's face it, would erode that $900 saving). But it's great to see a service provider latching on to this type of marketing strategy: pushing the return on investment of broadband connectivity.
We hear a lot about the economic benefits of fast networks on a macro level, but it probably doesn't really hit home until it's spelled out in dollar and cents terms as they relate to the average punter's monthly budget.
What Farmside forgot to mention was that all the hours rural people can save not driving into town to shop or bank could instead be used enjoying the delights of Google, Facebook and TradeMe.
A recent study found those three sites were the most-accessed at work. Why should urban office workers get all the distracting fun of the internet on their boss's time? Surely it's time we spread this broadband-enabled productivity depleting practice more evenly across town and country.
