When the World Wide Web began in 1990, few suspected how successful it would become. There are now millions of websites with billions of web pages. But as many people are well aware, the Web can be painfully slow.
Most people connect to the Internet using modems and telephone lines.
Because the data-carrying capacity of telephone lines, known as bandwidth , is low, receiving electronic data can take a long time. New technology promises to address this problem. Connecting to the Internet using fiber optic lines and via cable TV increases bandwidth dramatically, making the Web more powerful. Expect to see an explosion of e-commerce, collaborative projects, videoconferencing and virtual environments. Many of these applications are under development or already in use in some form.