16 Years of Cable Broadband

This trinket in my office is a reminder of an historic event in Ohio.

I was there in September 1996 when Time Warner launched RoadRunner, the nation's first cable internet service, aka broadband.  The Akron-Canton region in which I worked at that time was the launch site for this first of its kind way to access the Internet from the home.  The launch was at Akron's Inventors Hall of Fame.  It really was a milestone event for which Ohio should be proud to have been the launch pad.

Up until then, people were still dialing in to a phone modem or paying for a dedicated ISDN line that was not practical, nor easily available, for the home.

Broadband is taken for granted now, but it's still the fastest, most practical service around for homes.  In fact, I recently swapped my telephone DSL line for a cable broadband one in my home.  It only took me 16 years.