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American View On Korean Broadband Leadership

prostoalex writes "South Korea remains the world's undisputed broadband leader (in terms of penetration) with 25 broadband lines for every 100 people as of year-end 2004. But how did it come to that? Joel Strauch moved there to teach English and in his letter to PC World he portrays the everyday life in broadband heaven as well as names the reasons for Korean broadband dominance: 'An ambitious, nearly $11 billion program, it appears to be working. Studies have shown that over a quarter of Koreans have broadband and that anyone who wants it can sign up--with some ISPs charging as little as $19 a month for DSL. I pay $30 myself, for a 1.5-megabits-per-second (mbps) connection--twice the speed of my $50-a-month service back home in the United States.'"

13 of 527 comments (clear)

  1. cmon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    someone post something for me to read, i have 2 hours to kill here...

    1. Re: cmon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      MegaTokyo.

      (Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with MegaTokyo, except for being obsessed with it.)

  2. What about by TheKidWho · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Korean Broadband leadership ON MARS?!

  3. Socialize anything, by cosmodrome · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    and evil always follows. No exceptions. Why create a monopoly to provide broadband service? What if the monopoly provider decides to disallow all "insensitive content"? If you want an internet that is filtered by the federales, go to China and see how they get along with it.

  4. Hehe- hehe.... by wpiman · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    He said penetration.....

  5. Netcraft Confirms it ... Hunter S. Thompson, dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Gonzo journalist writer Hunter S. Thompson was found dead in his Colorado home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

  6. Re:Netcraft Confirms it ... Hunter S. Thompson, de by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Yes, it is offtopic, but unlike the Stephen King troll, this one is actually true. See http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/704522 7?pageid=rs.NewsArchive&pageregion=mainRegion, among others.

  7. What about "in Korea only old people use email"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I expected this thread to be choked Soviet-Russia style with "only old people in Korea use email" jokes. Even at -1 this is the only reference to old people that I can find.

    Are all the comedians at a troll conference today?

  8. borderline racism by awollabe · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Whether or not these claims are true; it is seldom wise or accurate to stereotype/villify an entire country's people. While it may be true that many Koreans place an undue emphasis on blood lineage, statements like "Koreans decline to adopt because they view people outside their family as inferior vermin" are more telling of the author's view of the world than they are of the world's people.

  9. Reunification will be VERY interesting! by UranusReallyHertz · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Hopefully the two very different Koreas will be reunified in my lifetime (I can't imagine how the current North Korean 'government' will survive after 'Dear Leaders' passing, but if NK is good at nothing else its good at surprising people!), and I am really looking forward to it. Its gonna be really intersting to see how 20 million North Koreans stuck in a 50 year cultural and technological deep freeze will react to finally seeing how the southerners live. I mean for God's sake, for all intents and purpopses NK has no internet or cell phones!

    --
    Smoking is an expensive, slow, and unreliable method of suicide.
  10. Re:What about "in Korea only old people use email" by *bjorn* · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'm also seriously disappointed :) Where is /. going.

  11. Re:GET A LIFE by elpapacito · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What about you and me , you losing time answering at nitpicking and me at a lame get-a-life posts ?

  12. Re:Port scanning by Beta · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Can't stand US born and raised teens at the checkout line that can't understand or respond to a simple question.

    Add to that list the huge number of slashdot users who can't separate than/then and other similar words. Very annoying to read for a non-native speaker.