Internet speed: more proof we get ripped off
Steve Safran August 29th, 2007
Broadband service in Japan is eight to 30 times faster than in the U.S., according to a report in today’s WaPo. It’s also much cheaper.
The speed advantage allows the Japanese to watch broadcast-quality, full-screen television over the Internet, an experience that mocks the grainy, wallet-size images Americans endure.
WaPo also has a graphic that shows the median download speeds in megabits per second by country. Japan: 61. S. Korea: 46. Finland: 21. Sweden: 18. Canada: 8. U.S.: 2. This is more than just a matter of having a better hookup to watch YouTube. Higher speeds help the economy and medicine.
Ultra-high-speed applications are being rolled out for low-cost, high-definition teleconferencing, for telemedicine — which allows urban doctors to diagnose diseases from a distance — and for advanced telecommuting to help Japan meet its goal of doubling the number of people who work from home by 2010.
We developed the product. The Japanese are beating the pants off us with it. Sound familiar?
Adds Daniel in comments: “The philosophy of the US internet providers is “Gee bud, at least you have a connection.”
8 Comments Add your own
1. Daniel | August 29th, 2007 at 9:31 am
The philosophy of the US internet providers are “gee bud, at least you have a connection..”
2. Dan | August 29th, 2007 at 10:31 am
The reason our connections are so expensive is what
happened with takeovers in the late 90s and 2000s.
Those deals were all made with heavy borrowing with
enormous interest payments. To make a profit the
phone companies have to charge much more than it
costs to actually deliver the service, just to pay the loans.
This exact thing is why broadcasters are now having to
run so many commercials. The very large amounts
company’s paid for broadcast licenses after dereg
in the late 90s, caused enormous debt. Now we have
20 minutes of commercials on TV and close to that
on radio. You certainly don’t need to run that much
inventory to cover the cost of your operations and make a decent profit. Most of it is to pay the interest
on all those loans made for the leveraged buyouts.
Dan
3. Curtis | August 29th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Isn’t is just the curse of the early adopter? As first to go, we thought it would be a good idea to put our internet on the copper wire that already exists on our networks. (by we, I mean the powerful telecom industry). Those nations that came after us had the luxury of building the entire thing from the ground up.
4. mgauss | August 29th, 2007 at 11:50 am
You should check out this article:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070810_002683.html
5. Dan | August 29th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Robert X. Cringely has a bunch on this recently:
pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070803_002641.html
Game Over: The U.S. is unlikely to ever regain its broadband leadership.
pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070810_002683.html
The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen.
pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20060629_000351.html
If we build it they will come: It’s time to own our own last mile
6. Anonymous | August 29th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
If you haven’t been to speedtest.net, it’s an awesome little tool. You can compare your own connection to one in Japan, too, if you like.
7. adam | August 29th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
We need to take a deep breath and step back. As soon as the vicious attacks on Alaska stop and Ted Stephens can focus on the pipes and tubes we’ll catch back up. Nothing is wrong, do not attempt to adjust the image on your monitor.
8. Jeremiah | August 30th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Didn’t we (read: taxpayers) give BILLION$ to these telecoms to give us fast connections? I seem to recall Global Crossing (now defunct), Verizon, AT$T, et al promising the world if we’d just ease the burden of investment (remember kids, publicize the risk, PRIVATIZE the profits!).
I gave AT$T a zillion dollars, and I didn’t even get a copy of my internet traffic……
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