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Worldwide State of Broadband - S Korea, Japan Lead
Geek of the Week writes "No surprise here, a report by the International Telecommunications Union shows the US lagging in broadband adoption. S Korea and Japan lead with between 60 and 70% of S Korean households wired for speed, with Japan catching up quickly. The U.S. ranks 11th. Story here and the full press release can be found on the ITU website. Having traveled through Asia for business I can't say I'm surprised, but it is disappointing that the availability and price are in such sorry states here in the U.S."
In Japan they pass out Broadband modems on the street for free.
And connections are 8-12Mbps at the low end.
Japan and Korea don't lead... Hong Kong (CHINA!) and Korea are up at the front.
Japan ranks 10th.
True, but the government recently ran all that fiber optic cable along the Canadian National Railway line (CNR), and now alot of small, interior communities have bandwidth that would make an urbanite jealous.
There has a been a huge push to get high-speed Internet to small, rural communites.
Here's a good link on various provincial initiatives to wire the boonies
Here's a helpful map
Note that the U.S. is about as densely populated as India or Western China, both of which have much higher broadband acceptance than the U.S.
Several reasons for Japan's fast broadband growth are as follows: As has been pointed out, broadband modems are being passed out on the street by yahoo bb, who's service is cheaper than the phone companies' service. They are doing this at a great loss to try to build volume. They also include VOIP functionality, with calls to the US being charged at 5 yen (about 4 cents) a minute. Unfortunately Yahoo's availability is limited outside major cities. I live in a suburb of a prefectural capital and cannot get service. Another reason BB rates are rising, is that is is the only way to get flat rate internet access, as even local calls are charged per minute. Yes, ~$20.00 flat rate isps exist, but when the phone bill jumps $40, it is no longer a good deal. Also, although the bandwidth seems high and the rates seem low, the study probably doesn't take into account the fact that you need to pay both the phone company and a seperate isp for most connections. That can easily push the cost up into the 40-60 dollar range, and outside the major areas (tokyo, kyoto, etc.) the bandwidth rates are much lower. My fastest transfer rate was on a RH iso, about 60k over my 12MB connection. The penetration rates and adverstised speeds only show a small part of the broadband picture in japan.
The US still has more internet users than any other country. By about 3 times, actually.
It's a big country, and it's hard to wire it all.
Raw data transcribed from the PDF. All errors are possibly mine. (**LIST AT END OF COMMENT DUE TO LAME FILTERS**)
This added because of lame lame filter, bla, bla, bla, bla. And so on. This is so lame I can't believe I have to do this.
As local and national governments prepare for the challenges of the information society, there is much interest in who is doing well, and who is doing poorly, in broadband Internet access. Broadband access is being touted as a way for governments to attract investment, ensure future economic prosperity and provide enhanced social welfare. But among developing countries, there is a fear that the huge investments necessary to establish wide-scale broadband access will open up a new digital divide.
This workshop examined the different strategies that have been followed by ITU Member States, at local and national levels, for promoting the deployment and use of broadband networks. The key research question was why some economies have been more successful than others and whether this success can be replicated.
The topic "promoting broadband" was selected on the basis of priorities expressed by ITU Member States and Sector Members. This and other topics in the New Initiatives series are chosen on the basis of a regular questionnaire sent to all ITU Member States and Sector Members.
Workshop objectives
In April 2003, the ITU Secretary-General convened a small group of policy-makers, broadband service providers, telecommunication regulators, academics, and various other experts, serving in an individual capacity, to discuss the best ways to promote broadband deployment and use around the world. Through these discussions, the workshop attempted to identify the characteristics of successful broadband deployment that can be used by other governments, especially in developing countries, in establishing their own broadband policies.
Trying to get this posted took longer than writing down the data itself. This is so idiotic it's amazing. Hey, I'm trying to post at Score: 2 here. I'd maybe understand if anons had it a little tougher...
Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 30.3). We'll then I guess I'll just keep on trying then. This _is_ going to be posted, one way or another. Where did I put my markov-generator, I need it.... Take some source code in the meanwhile " bool r = ( left_weight_table[b] + right_weight_table[b] > 4 ) && (left_weight_ table[b] != right_weight_table[b]);"
33.5 and still not allowed to post. I mean, this is just an amazingly stupid heuristic. Who the fuck wrote this crap? Please stand forward in the light and show yourself.
How about a little SCO quote then?
35.2 ... Oh, well. There goes my chance of making a meaningful contribution early in the thread. You know, that sort of thing that slashdot should encourage, not make impossible. How about some of my tech-docs then?
The size of this table is Ceiling(num_chars/2.0), which can be calculated as follows using integer math: There are (num_chars / 2) + (num_chars mod 2) where num_chars := last_char - first_char + 1 bytes in the wtable,
where the width for the first character is in the high bits of the first byte of the wtable, the width for the second character are in its low bits, and so on.
Not a dent. This is very depressing. I've been at it for five minutes now. Man, oh man... where's the limit then? 60? How stupid can this thing get?
0.3 Argentina
0.6 Australia
6.6 Austria
0.2 Bahrain
8
Belief is the currency of delusion.
..the US is a veritable broadband paradise. In the UK, the uptake is even worse than the US; whilst 80% of the country is wired for "broadband", the phone companies have no intention of wiring the remaining 20% - and the 80% broadband is DSL at phenomenally expensive prices; a 768k up/down line will set you back somewhere in the region of $80/month. I currently pay $35 a month for 2.5mbit either way on my cable connection; and the customer service in the UK is similarly dreadful.
;)
Maybe the US should count its blessings.
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you
I'm in Seoul at the moment. I have cable broadband for 33,000won/month, about US$29, including the tv side. Most people do have cable or DSL here.
However, it sucks. Goes down often which is normal for some US providers too. But when it does work, it's got some fat bandwidth but it's VERY laggy making most online games unplayable. My friend has DSL and the situation isn't any better.
Maybe if they gave it away in the US for almost nothing also, it would be wider spread there. But I much prefer my broadband at my US apt to the broadband here! (Even though it costs more than double, worth every penny!)
-e.
Most everyone in South Korea and Japan are MUCH closer to there local telco or big city... they have their hicks in the sticks, but think of Tokyo; 1 in 6 Japanese people live there.
Now, point 2, this is a PERCENTAGE number, not actual subscribers. If I had a "country" with 10 people in it and 7 were on broadband, that would beat the U.S. in percentage. The U.S. is the 3rd largest (population) country in the world behind China and India, so it's no surprise that it will take longer to get that penetration rate. I'm sure we have at least as many raw people on DSL as either of the front runners....
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South Korea and Hong Kong lead in broadband adoption, while Japan and South Korea lead in broadband speed.
Let me break it down for you:
Broadband adoption (per capita)
...
1. South Korea: 21.3% (60-70% of households)
2. Hong Kong: 14.9%
3. Canada: 11.2%
10. Japan: 7.1% (and moving up)
11. United States: 6.9%
Broadband adoption (number of users)
1. United States: 19.9 million
N/A. South Korea: over 10 million
Broadband speed
1. Japan: entire movie in 20 minutes (520x faster than dial-up modem)
2. South Korea: entire movie in 26 minutes
Worldwide broadband subscribers (start of 2003)
63 million (mainly DSL/Cable)
Monthly subscription prices
Worldwide: between $30-50
United States: $53
Finland: as high as $165.89
More mobile phone users (1.16 billion) than fixed-line phones (1.13 billion)
Are you for real? - Our government has lain the cable needed to allow for broadband in isolated areas that can recieve a high benefit by having the access.
... the US has FIVE TIMES more fibre bandwidth than is needed for the present data traffic yet most americans can't get access.
Here in BC, the government has declared that all schools in the province will have broadband access so that students, and the less fortunate in the communities can better their lives instead of drinking/toking their lives away at the end of the road.
Compare that to every idiot and his brother laying fibre through the US based on scam stock promotions with no business models
Now who's system is screwed?
Yes but Canada also has a border with the United States that is 8 893 km long.
;-)
That means that the area within 100 miles of the border is
8,893 km = 5 526 miles (converting to evil imperialistic units)
5 526 miles x 100 miles = 552 600 square miles of area.
Lets see you wire broadband in all that
P.S. I live approx. 600 miles from the U.S. border. And i have broadband at 1.5Mbs for only 35$ Cdn (approx. 25$ U.S.) per month.
It can be damned annoying getting past the Yahoo BB vendors hawking their wares outside of all the metropolitan train stations. "BB syou!" ("Let's BB!") You need a phone line to get the service, and if you don't have one, a one time license for the line is about $700. (You can transfer licenses from other people and NTT has deals, for example if you purchase an ISDN line instead you'll get a reduced rate.)
Because of the mind-numbingly high price of regular phone lines, most young people use cell phones now. I myself held off because I hate them with a passion, but this year finally gave in and said goodbye to any land line.
I did buy a landline connection at that outrageous price 3 years ago. The serviceman came out to my brand new apartment (which I had noticed already had phone lines running to it) and used his cell phone to call the main office. One word and my phone was hooked up. The only thought going through my head was: I just paid $750 to have my name entered into a database.
I've heard nothing but bad things about Yahoo BB, similar to what someone else posted.
Japan is not that advanced when it comes to the internet or computers, contrary to popular world opinion. Discussing computers or electronics with anyone in a retail store would drive the average slashdotter crazy. The Japanese know about gadgets, not about components, architectures, connections.
I made my own videocamera by cutting up other components once. I had to do it that way. Even in the electronic district of Tokyo, Akihabera, I get blank looks when I ask for certain cables, components. After I finally get the person to understand what I want, the usual response is, "Do foreign countries have that???" "Yes," I'll reply. "It's the same piece as connected to that TV but I want to buy it separately." Them: "We have a TV." Me: smacks self in forehead repeatedly.
NTT is competing with Yahoo now, and since I have a laptop I took advantage of their cheaper DoCoMo mopera cards, so now my laptop is always connected to the internet, anywhere I go with cell phone access in Japan (i.e. 95% of the country). $25 for the card and about $35 per month flat rate "tsukaihodai" use as much as you want, at 64k. Not the fastest, but it's always connected. I figure as long as I don't keep the transmitter next to my balls (for extended periods) I'll be alright.
The availability of broadband in so many areas in Canada has to do with a Federal government initiative to have broadband internet available to 90% of the population in something like ten years.
That combined with the pioneering of cable internet in Canada, along with deals universities made with telecoms requiring broadband availability in the municipalitiy they reside in has made the internet quite fast in most parts of the country