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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."
So does the United Kingdom, although I doubt the UK is even in the top 20 of their list (it's not in the article), thanks to having one of the worst deployed broadband systems in Europe.
Not really. Close to 50% of S. Korea's population lives in 3 metro areas. The greater Seoul area is over twice the population of greater London. Actually, Seoul has a larger population than London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds combined!
In Japan, the Tokyo-Yokohama metro area alone has a population equal to just under half of all the U.K.! (http://www.demographia.com/db-wldurb-2000r.htm)
Population density of Canada is misleading. The vast majority of the population lives on the U.S. border. All that land area skews your statistics.
In the major cities of Korea and Japan, almost no one is outside of DSL distance limitations. Fiber links for backbones are nothing compared to the distances in the U.S. -- Miami to Atlanta is 2x longer than the entire length of S. Korea!
In Canada, while it is about 6,000 km from Halifax, NS to Vancouver, BC it is a pretty straight shot for a backbone. That covers about 80% of the population -- add a spur for Edmonton and a feed from Juneau to Yellowknife and you push that coverage to close to 90% of Canada's population.
The U.S. population is spread out more than most other nations, and it is one of the largest so linking it up is more of a challenge.
Even with all that, the U.S. was listed as #1 in connectivity when measured by total broadband subscribers and not per-capita.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Why don't you yankees revolt and kill all those MBAs????