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American’s spend 9 hours/day?
By Larry Hendrick | March 27, 2006
According to an article in the February 2006 issue of Broadband Properties, Ivan Seidenbert (CEO) of Verizon said the average American spends nine hours total online, on-TV, or on the phone - more time than he or she spends asleep.
He does not qualify it or cite a study, but I do have a few questions. Does this include the time spent at work on the computer and telephone? And, the latest data I saw for television time was four hours per day, which would be at home.
The reason I ask is that he is using these numbers to justify the expense that Verizon is undergoing to install FTTH (Fiber to the Home) and if the numbers are distorted, his plan is distorted. You see, you can’t use numbers that include work numbers to justify expense to the home. Don’t get me wrong either, I would love fiber to this home, with 30Mbs download speeds and 5Mbs uploads for $35 per month, but really, think about it.
Verizon lost over 22,000 workers two years ago when they offered a small retirement package. Then the announced the need to reduce the workforce even more. I’m just thinking that it’s the kind of thinking above that has gotten them where they are today. Yes, they are a huge company and they just bought MCI (how did they afford that?), and their numbers haven’t been very good for quite some time, but …
I’m just wondering out loud about the relationship between the expenditure for the fiber and the need to reduce the work force even more. They have to pay for it some how. And if the service deteriorates even more, a person won’t be able to interact with individuals anymore.
Topics: Life, Technology |