Soccerman
Preach da ghetto, brotha 🙂
I agree with your assessment. Everybody WANTS faster Internet access, and it's not because we can't afford it, and it's DEFINITELY not because it's unavailable. Some people are just doomed from the get-go by living in an area that your phone/cable provider decided not to upgrade equipment in.
In my area, I can't get a cable modem from Cox@Home because they haven't laid down fiber optic cabling here yet. But my friends 2 miles away can. DSL is out of the question too, because I'm in what a phone company calls a "digital carrier loop." In English, this basically means that your phone company decided to be a cheapass a few years ago by implementing multiplexed lines in neighborhood blocks (they shove like 10-20 numbers on ONE line and still charge you the same).
Now, it looks like the only option around where I live is this relatively new thing in town called Sprint Broadband. It's wireless cable with both downlink and uplink for $40/mo. (not bad at all). But I'm still pondering with whether or not my apartment management will actually let me install the little dish on my balcony; hell, I see neighbors do it with DirecTV dishes, so why can't I?