'I don't have broadband', says Apple pioneer

Steve Jobs in front of a giant picture of a young Jobs, right, with his fellow Apple founder, Stephen Wozniak (GETTY IMAGES)

One of Silicon Valley's elder statesmen, Steve Wozniak, owes his considerable fame and fortune to a work-life spent exploring the cutting edge of 21st-century technology. But in his domestic existence, things couldn't be more different.

In an admission which has sparked soul-searching in the egg-headed circles where he is regarded as a superhero, Apple's bearded co-founder has said he is yet to enjoy high-speed internet access at home.

"I don't have broadband at my home," he recently declared. "I, Steve Wozniak, don't have broadband at my home!"

To blame, he explained, is a situation familiar to residents of the US, where the communications infrastructure in many regions is effectively controlled by a network of privatised monopolies.

Despite living within a mile of central Los Gatos, California, one of the most hi-tech cities in America, Wozniak, pictured, says: "Broadband is a monopoly in my town – that means you can get it from a cable company, but I don't have cable."

"There are 50 companies that want to sell me DSL, but they've all got to go through the Horizon wires – the local phone company – and I've got one of the two worst Horizons in the country. And so I can't get broadband."

The revelation puts "Woz" among a demographic of no less than 100 million Americans who are yet to enjoy broadband in their own home.