November 10, 2012
I have traveled around the world, searching. I’d thought I found it once in French Polynesia, but I was wrong. I was sure Mexico would have it, but no. Certainly none could be slower than in my hotel in American Samoa but I was wrong about that too. Finally, my quest is complete. I have finally found it – the slowest internet access in the world – right here in Tonga. It seems that the entire country shares one 2400 baud dial-up connection. Over this connection, at any given instant, 3000 people are making Skype calls. That leaves the rest of us with enough bandwidth to download approximately one email per day (if you start early enough). I might be exaggerating just a little bit, but it’s slow!
Oh well, I guess even a year ago internet access in the South Pacific was rare. Now wifi is pretty common, while “useable” internet connections are still somewhat rare. -Rich
