Peter Kim

Using Bandwidth Place or DSL Reports, I get an average of 1700 kilobits per second (kbps) and many times a peak of 2200 kbps.

However, CNN states that Japan and South Korea lead the world by a huge margin - 26,000 kbps. To translate:


And unlike the general rule where everything is much more expensive in Japan, the cost of this ultrabroadband is a paltry $29.14/month. The avg. cost of our snail's pace broadband here in the US is $52.99/month.

This very low cost coupled with much more apparent speed and utility has led to a broadband penetration of 60-70% of all households in S. Korea, not just from a pool of computer households. In other words, there are 21.3 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants in S. Korea.

I hope we in the US can someday enjoy the speeds they find normal in Asia. I know when I jumped from dial-up to Comcast cable, I was impressed with the speedup. I cannot imagine why I would need to fly through the Web at a rate of 10-15x greater than what I experience now. However, if content providers (e.g., AOL, Disney, Apple, etc.) want to seriously deliver via the net, I guess they'll need to do something to ramp up the speed in order to make the offerings palatable.

CNN article - S. Korea leads world in Net speed

my girls rock Balenciaga & smoke mad marijuana - M.O.B.

Joe Szott

Their population density allows for some of this wow factor. Since DSL is very distance sensitive, wiring up a high density city block is much easier than wiring up a suburb of say Chicago. It isn't actually 'easier', but the amount of subscribers/money you can get back from the urban one is many times greater. So you invest a lot of money in that area.

It'll get there in the US, just takes some time. Who even knew what broadband was 10 years ago?

David Baranyi

I wonder what the MPAA would think about increased broadband speed in the United States?

Peter Kim

Joe,

I can see how population density/distance from DSL center affects broadband penetration. But what the article fails to mention is why the speeds are 10 - 15 times greater than the US.

I can only vaguely recall an article in which it discussed prevalent use of fiber optics as opposed to the traditional cable in this country...but I'm not sure.

my girls rock Balenciaga & smoke mad marijuana - M.O.B.

Alex-C

The Breeders. 7 Year Bitch. Belly. There was tons of broad bands....sheesh !

A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies, the chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.


Let's Go . . . To the colonies !

Matt Stryker

The biggest problem in the US will be no one wants to pay for the upstream bandwidth. I'm sure cable and DSL companies will soon tout 10 MB/s and even 25 MB/s connections, but if you hit a T3 at the central office to go out to the world, it doesn't mean squat.

Of course, they probably won't mention that in their fliers. Those DSL speed tests really only reveal the upstream limitations when you run them in the early evening to a server that is not inside your ISP...then you'll see the true capacity.

Chris Bardon

1700 kb DSL? That's pretty impressive. I suppose that the 3 Mb technology is out there-it just isn't offered in my area yet. Sure, Sympatico thinks it is, but I know from experience that it's easier said than done.

Still, I'm happy with my 1.5 Mb connection, which is averaging 1.3 Mb on Bandwidthplace. Much more stable speed than cable... Still, 26 Mb/s speeds-that can't be DSL, can it?

MickeS

/Mike

John_Berger

If I could convince my wife to let me spend the extra money (not going to happen), I could get 7.1 Mb speeds right now.

Want to make a bet on that?

All broadband modems have a <100 byte file that determines how fast the modem can operate. If I uncapped my modem, I could probably get a full 10 Mb/sec connection, possibly more. The MODEM is the throttling point and nothing else, unless as a backup the ISP installed a network throttling device.

I know because I've installed broadband provisioning systems for ISPs. You want to dictate someone's speed (both up and down, distance not withstanding)? You give them a 50-byte configuration file that dictates the speed. Someone is paying for faster service? Their modem now gets a different 50-byte configuration file that allows faster speeds. That's all.

I once had to install a provisioning system for an ISP that had no throttling. ALL of their clients could connect at 10 Mb/sec if the network wasn't saturated. I installed the new provisioning software, their users got appropriate configuration files, and the new speed limits were active.

$$$$, what else? The local phone monopolies are unwilling to upgrade their equipment (while giving millions in bonuses to their CxOs. Additionally, they're unwilling to admit that ther are hundreds of millions miles of dark (unused) fiber optic cables throughout the country that could easily be used because then there would be a massive consumer backlash of "why weren't these fibers activated earlier if they've been around for years?" and of course the extra money for hardware to implement those fibers that could only come out of firing workers or reducing the bonuses of execs. We know which one is more likely.

It's all about money. And if there is one thing that recent American business history has shown is that the customer does NOT come first. This is so true with broadband companies.

Chris Bardon