"Broadband: Should We Regulate High-Speed Internet Access?" is a collection of papers presented at a conference October 4-5, 2001 at the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, plus two more papers from a later conference at Columbia University. The book has to tackle two main tasks. The first is to explain some of the technological complexities of broadband, or high-speed Internet access, for people who don't know DSLAM from DOCSIS. The second is to discuss the theoretical regulatory framework, as well as the specific policy proposals in Washington to regulate or deregulate this field, for the people who can't tell the difference between Tauzin-Dingell and the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

This diverse group of papers includes a good mix of descriptive, theoretical and empirical work, including some experimental economics. Sponsored by both AEI and Brookings, there is also a mix across the political spectrum. The book is a success in that it does manage the tasks listed above. The only problem with the book, unfortunately a major one, is its timeliness. Not only has technology moved quickly in this field since the conference was held, but there have been big changes in the business world and Washington as well.

The technology lag is illustrated quickly in the book, in what looked to be a promising paper by Hal Varian. It provided the results of an experiment to determine the demand for broadband Internet access via a controlled market experiment. Unfortunately, the experiment took place in 1998 and 1999, and the "broadband" was a 128 K ISDN line, less than one-twentieth the speed of the broadband connection that this review will take when sent to the Business Economics editors. In that time frame, pre-Napster and Kazaa and with streaming video in its infancy, there wasn't an overwhelming reason to demand those high speeds. While the methodology and reasoning in the article are quite interesting, the results are no longer meaningful. (To be fair, the editors do point out that the study is from "an ancient era in Internet time.") Another article, by Paul Rappoport, Donald Kridel and Lester Taylor, provide a more recent demand estimate, with data from dial-up and broadband users from mid-2001.

The next group of papers describes the actual technology of broadband. A paper by Charles Jackson covers the wired technology of digital subscriber lines (DSL) that provide broadband over phone lines, and cable modems which use the wires of the cable company. The technology is more than just background information, since most regulatory or pro-competition plans call for the granting of access or divestitures at particular points in the broadband flow. To understand the regulatory schemes, you need some understanding of where they are in the technology.

A companion article by Jerry Hausman looks at the technology of wireless connections, and given its 2001 origins looks almost exclusively at a discussion of Internet services via 2G and 3G (generation) cellular systems. Fast-forward to 2003 and the action has moved elsewhere. While the cellular companies have cell phones that browse the web and receive e-mail, if you ask most industry people today what they think of when you tell them the words "wireless" and "Internet" they think of something else entirely.