Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, or Woz. Photo from Wikimedia Commons
If you thought Ireland had broadband problems, then spare a thought for Steve Wozniak. The Apple co-founder has declared he doesn’t have broadband at his home in California and instead has to rely on smartphones to access the net. Why?
Wozniak, who is on a tour of Australia, told an audience at a forum on internet connectivity in Perth: “I don’t have broadband at my home. I, Steve Wozniak, don’t have broadband at my home.”
Just why does the co-founder of Apple not have home internet access? If he was based in Mullingar or Maynooth in Ireland, you could perhaps understand, but a founder of one of the world’s largest computer giants, who lives in Los Gatos in California?
Well, the reason is an all-too familiar one. It would appear he has had the misfortune to live in the wrong side of town.
“I live 1 kilometre out of the main part of town,” he said in Perth, as reported by News.com.au.
Wozniak went on to say: “Broadband is a monopoly in my town – that means you can get it from a cable company, but I don’t have cable.”
He spoke about how some 50 cable companies want to sell him DSL, but they have to go through the wires of his local phone company, Horizon.
“ … and I’ve got one of the two worst Horizons in the country. And so I can’t get broadband in my house.”
The 61-year-old made headlines in March for his continual dedication to the Apple brand, choosing to queue all night for the new iPad.
“It’s a ritual almost because I’ve done it so many times. It’s not something I have to do but I’d rather be in there and be genuine like the real people who line up and wait all night and Apple’s that important to us,” he said at the time.
Watch a video of Wozniak here.
