19 November 2006

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Dutchman Wart Fransen points a remote control at a little box atop his television and firmly presses down on the button to change the station. 

There's a delay of about a half-second, and then the new channel comes on. The image is frozen in place for an instant before it begins to run smoothly.

Fransen is now watching TV over his telephone line, a technological marvel. But he's not that impressed.

"I use it now and again, definitely for soccer," he says of the service that came bundled with his €40 (US$50) per month high-speed Internet connection. "The remote is really slow. But I think the image is better than cable."