China to Top U.S. in Broadband Subscribers

An anonymous reader writes "China already is rapidly approaching the United States as the country with the largest number of broadband subscribers, according to the El Segundo, Calif.-based firm, and by the end of the year, China is expected to have 34 million subscribers, compared to 39 million in the United States. By the end of 2007, China is expected to have 57 million broadband subscribers, compared to 54 million in the United States, with an even wider lead in the years to follow."

Comments

So?

[Raul654]

Look at a population map of china. Now look at one of the US. Half of china has a population density of less than 2.5 people per square mile, and the other half has more than 500. Getting a large section of the country wired very quickly is pretty easy. The US population, on the other hand, is spread really thin. So it's not surprising that China could overtake the US quickly.

Re:So?

[anactofgod]

Riiiight.

So, you posit that rural dwellers are self-reliant and accountable for their own actions, while city dwellers want government handouts.

Well, actually, the real data shows that the opposite is true. Let's talk taxes. Consider this study of the 2000 Bush-v-Gore election results, as mapped against states that receive net benefits from federal spending. If you want more recent data, you can map the raw facts yourself against the result of the 2004 Bush-v-Kerry election using this data published by taxfoundation.org.

I'm come from plain talking folk, so let me just say it how it is. How red staters can keep posing about their hardy self-reliance while simultaneously sucking so hard on the public teat provided by the blue staters strikes me as being, at the very least, impolite. I don't mind contributing my fair share of taxes - I view it as an investment in my country for all that it provides to me- and for some of those taxes to go to support the undereducated, indigent or unfortunate, be they rural or urban. I don't even expect the recipients to say "please" or "thank you" when they take the money given to them. But do expect not to have my hand spit when I'm trying to give you the handout.

So, pass this around to your fellow self-reliant, hardy, accountable red staters -- Strut around and pose all you want, but if you can't be polite, give us back our taxes.

Thanks a bunch.

Re:Percentages

[Anonymous Coward]

China has 1,298,847,624 and USA has 293,027,571

So China has about 4% and USA has 18%.

Of course...

[carambola5]

Of course for China, that's 2.9% while for the US, it's 13.5%.

Check for yourself: http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wp02/tabA-04.pdf

Hooray for manipulating statistics!

Re:Percentages

[Anonymous Coward]

And 18% is nothing to brag about, really. At least, not when compared to other countries.

Re:Even Canada is higher..

[Quickfry]

Ah. You have obviously heard about Canadians and their 'fat pipes' It's all true.

Re:Percentages

[dtfarmer]

18% isn't bad considering the logistics. The US is nearly 100x larger in area than South Korea...

South Korea - http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/skorea.html
Population 48m
Area 38k sq. miles (about the size of Indiana or Kentucky)

US - http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/area.s html
Population 293m
Area 3.5m sq. miles (2.9m continental)

I wonder what the percentage would be if we only accounted for metro areas like Seattle, New York, LA... while I'm sure it's nowhere near 73%, I bet it's well above 18%.

Re:Population

[grumpygrodyguy]

that is nice coming from a non US citizen who called us the US of Asshole's in a previous post.

Actually, I _am_ a US citizen living in Atlanta, GA. Born and raised US, white, middle-class, etc. And I meant what I said in that post.

Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million

[stupidfoo]

Actually the US produces closer to 29-30% of the world's goods with 25% of the world's "resources". So, we produce goods at a higher efficiency than the rest of the world (on average).

But you're right, that doesn't sound quite as sexy. It's like when people complain about the US's "record" deficits even though it, as a percentage of it's GDP, is no where near record levels and is lower than most of Europe. But again, that's not as sexy.

Re:What good is broadband if it's censored?

[liangzai]

Broadband is good because virtually nothing is blocked the way you believe it is blocked. I sit here in Shanghai, read my daily /., download all the porn I could ever want, read articles on Tibet, human rights, etc., and it all go through. There's no fucking difference from surfing in the West.

If I one day would come across something that is blocked, I would of course go to virtualbrowser.com or use a proxy from proxy4free.com, both of which are totally unblocked in China (as is 99.9999% of the web, including Slashdot, goatse porn, news and protest sites about Tibet -- I could mail you screen shots if you don't believe me).

People continue to believe in this myth that the Chinese are blocked from surfing the web. There IS blocking of web sites, but it is so limited that it has no effect whatsoever. If a site doesn't work, just google up another similar site or a mirror. Or use a proxy.

There is no way you could effectively block content on such a thing as tah Intarweb... the whole thing seems to be a domestic political farse to make it look like the authorities are doing something to curb the Western influence.

I am pleased with the service from China Telecom. They give me broadband for 80 yuan per month, including a perfectly working Huawei modem. I have no complaints.