Is the internet a basic necessity? The providers would certainly have us think so, or billboards about the dreaded disease of 'internetlessness' wouldn't deepen our discontent in traffic.

Contrary to what they will have us think, the lack of broadband is a fact of life for 98 percent of South Africans, says BMI-Techknowledge's Brian Nielson. (The world leaders, Denmark, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea and Iceland are cruising at 30 percent penetration.)