Accessibility

OK - Accessibility with a new slant :)

I'm not talking about web-accessibility, but internet-accessibility!

While I realise readers of this list aren't the "average everyday user", I
still see a continual suggestion that 28.8 is the "minimum" access speed
webmasters should consider when designing.

Here's a local report I came across recent (4/4/99 - non Y2K compliant date
format :)

>DIGITAL DATA INQUIRY: AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY REPORT
>Norm O'Doherty
>Special Adviser, Australian Communications Authority
[snip]
>THERE IS SIGNIFICANT DISPARITY BETWEEN METROPOLITAN AND RURAL CUSTOMERS at
>the reasonable data rates of 14.4 kbit/s and 28.8kbit/s as shown in the
>table below. 
>
>PSTN Data Transmission Rates in 'Urban and Provincial/Rural' Areas
>
>Transmission Rate     2.4kbit/s     9.6kbit/s     14.4kbit/s     28.8kbit/s
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Metro                        99%           95%           85%            60%
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Rural                         99%           70%           45%            30%
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

(This quote was extracted from a public forum
http://www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/online-ed/ - the full report is available
from http://www.aca.gov.au )

Given that the Internet isn't as US-centric as members on some of the other
lists tend to think *VBG*, and that there appears to be a significant
difference between urban and rural users (at least in Australia), what
access speed do most web designers design for?

(Just as well none of my Stats students will quote me on that "sig dif"
without an alpha error :)


Chris Higgs <c.higgs(at)landfood.unimelb.edu.au>
Gilbert Chandler College
http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/

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