Webtone is immediate and continuous access to the Internet in the same way that we think of dialtone when we pick up a phone receiver. To have webtone in the same way that we have dialtone, most users of the term believe that not only access is required, but also sufficient bandwidth to meet user demands as well as the same quality of service we expect today from the telephone system. Since the telephone system and the Internet are tending to converge, some believe that eventually webtone will include dialtone. Webtone also implies Internet access from mobile devices, supercomputers, kitchen appliances, and perhaps eventually the very walls that surround us.
Contributor(s): Russell J. Jungwirth
This was last updated in September 1999