Internet 2021: Here's what the new year will (and won't) bring

Take an ordinary household of four. Everyone owns a smartphone, a PC, and a smart speaker. In addition, everyone shares two tablets, two gaming consoles, and a pair of 4K TVs. These days, it's a safe bet everyone's using these devices a lot. By Broadband's Now Bandwidth Calculator's reckoning you should have at least a 180 Mbps connection. Good luck getting that in many places. Making matters worse, few of us have any real choice in ISPs. No matter where you live more internet misery is coming. The big-time ISPs such as AT&T, Charter/Spectrum, and Comcast are introducing data-caps. I can only hope that the Federal Communications Commission, instead of helping out the big ISPs, will, under President Joe Biden, help users out instead with a block on fixed lines data caps and real incentives to expand serious broadband to more underserved users.