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Domain: point-topic.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to point-topic.com.

Comments · 10

  1. Raw Stats by Adam+Hazzlebank · · Score: 1 · on US Falls to 24th Place For Broadband Penetration

    Raw states for Western Europe available at: http://point-topic.com/home/gbsdemo/countryGrowth. asp

    Makes quite interesting reading. username: bugmenot password: bugmenot

    btw, where's the reply button gone?

  2. Re:Here the problem arises. by rho · · Score: 1 · on The Problems with Broadband in America
    I know it's fashionable to blame corporations for everything. Nevermind that saying "corporations are the cause" is like saying "wills and deeds are the cause". Although a corporation is just a legal structure, it sure is easy to lay the blame for everything at their doorstep.

    There's a big difference between France (about the size of Colorado and Kansas put together) and the United States. You could wire up Colorado and Kansas pretty easily, especially when you have twice California's population living there. But in order to run a wire from New York to Dallas, you've got to have a load of cash. The two situations aren't comparable.

    Canada is closer, but even Canada has high population density compared to the US. Also it only has 25 million people. We've got 300 million.

    Finally I notice they don't explain anything about France's Internet system. From this I gather that France's broadband boom comes from unmaking some of FT's monopoly. FT is also subsidizing low-income people's Internet access. Which is a noble goal, but harder to do in the US when rural poor are an order of magnitude more expensive to serve.

  3. Just compare with broadband penetration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Europe Home to Majority of Zombies

    Just compare the number of broadband lines in the respective geographies http://www.point-topic.com/content/ukplus/email+ar chive/wukbbmm3050406.htm and you find that these figures tie in pretty well - if anything the USA is more spam productive compared to Europe! The solution is to do like Verizon did - just block all mail that is from Europe - after all who would want to talk to anyone from Europe?

  4. Who cares about # of computers? by brunes69 · · Score: 1 · on Microsoft's Take on iTunes for Windows

    What good is a service like iTunes to you if you can't download the songs at a reaonable rate?

    Canada has over twice the broadband penetration as the US, and has had for quite some time.

    http://www.point-topic.com/content/DSLAnalysis/Bro adband penetration.htm

    Note this is 5 broadband lines *per 100 population* difference, not just *per computer*, so it is an even higher disparity then you may first think.

  5. monopolies are bad ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on The Australian Broadband Disaster

    Let's ditch this bogus "monopolies are bad" stuff. Canada has universal cheap broadband through Government monopoly. Broadband penetration is the highest of any industrialised country, price is lowest.

  6. Re:Fifth largest? by TiMike · · Score: 1 · on .org TLD Now Runs on PostgreSQL

    I'd expect the .kr domain to move upward the quickest due to their broadband explosion.

  7. The actual ranking... by Gerein · · Score: 5, Informative · on DSL Rising
    For those who are interested, the actual numbers can be found here.

    Top five for those who are too lazy to click:

    (country, DSL-lines in 1000, lines per 100 population)

    1. South-Korea, 6076, 12.7
    2. USA, 5837, 2.0
    3. Japan, 4223, 3.3
    4. Germany, 2800, 3.4
    5. China, 2220, 0.2
    Numbers are supposely from september, but I know that Germany is at >3000000 lines right now, so maybe they're not too accurate (or Germany's market is growing real fast... :-))

    Look out for China, it'll lead this ranking soon, just because of being HUGE.

  8. Re:Japan and Korea less rural by JohnDoe · · Score: 1 · on Why You Don't Have a Broadband Connection
    Really, I think what helped the most is that our Telco's were allowed to keep monopolies for much longer than the Telco's in the US. This allowed them to build a better infrastructure.

    Here is a link from CNET, about Sasktel high speed access (News.com) that was available in 1996.

    Here is another article stating that Sasktel was the first in Canada to offer high speed (Point-topic.com), and if I remember correctly it was the first place in North America as well.

  9. Re:Wow - it's cheaper (less than half that) in Can by dadragon · · Score: 2 · on AT&T Broadband Introduces Tiered Pricing

    Saskatoon and Regina were the first cities in North America to have broadband. According to DSL Worldwide Directory

    Moose Jaw and Swift Current had them before Calgary, IIRC, in 1997. Though on that point, I'm not 100% sure.

  10. I'm British. So I lose. by chazR · · Score: 2 · on A Study on Regional DSL and Cable Speeds?

    The bandwidths you talk about are largely unattainable in Britain.

    In fact, a "survey" or "report" or whatever reported in the infamous Register suggests that Britain has the lowest-bandwidth, highest priced broadband on the entire planet. The report (pay US$395 to pass 'go') is here.

    I can buy a 512Kb/128Kb connection from British Telecom for as little as £50 a month. Plus £200 connection. With 40:1 contention. Oh, I have to run Windows 98 to do it. Or, I can pay £200 a month for 1Mb down, 128KB up at 20:1 contention, and run as many machines off it as I want. Installation is a bit more (£400 I think). Oh, and those bandwidths aren't 'committed bandwidths'. And they change your IP every 2 hours. I can always go to a supplier other than BT. But they have to charge more, because those are the prices that BT charge other suppliers, as well.

    I am angry. I work with telecomms companies. One if them (in Europe) is giving *guaranteed* 1Mb down, 256 Kb up, 24*7, home access at 8:1 contention for the equivalent of £18 a month.

    Do you ever wonder why UK people are so *fucking* furious?

    On the bright side, BT has a market capitalisation of £28 billion, and debts of £30 billion. Way to go, Sir Peter and Sir Ian. (Chairman and CEO)

    I love monopolies. Or I will when I get one.