Sony Launches Internet Service Offering Twice the Speed of Google Fiber

An anonymous reader writes "Sony Japan has announced that its own Internet service provider So-net Entertainment has launched what is thought to be the world's fastest Internet connection for home use in Japan with download speed of 2 Gbps on average. This speed is twice as fast as competing high-speed fiber connections in Japan. The ultra-fast connection, known as Nuro, will cost an inexpensive 4,980 yen ($51) per month- offering download speeds of 2 Gbps and uploads of up to 1 Gbps."

Comments

thnx sony

[Anonymous Coward]

thnx sony 2x the first post power

Re:thnx sony

[newcastlejon]

Enjoy the first post feature while it lasts, it'll be gone in your next mandatory router update.

Sony will figure out a way

[Anonymous Coward]

No doubt Sony will figure out a way to ensure that you only use it for Sony approved content.

They will actually turn the internet into a series of tubes, all controlled by Sony Inc.

Re:Sony will figure out a way

[man_the_king]

All the better to deliver rootkits, DRM'd DLC and other Sony owned crap. Let's not forget the special consideration their PS# packets will get to improve their customers' perceived experiences.

Oh, I almost forgot ... this will help hackers harvest data faster from Sony the next time they leave their back doors wide open.

And...cue the Sony-haters: no matter that Sony has been mostly on the right track these last few years. Keep nursing your grudge, haters, while rational people - who are able to recognize that times change, people change, and even corporations can change (esp because they have been brought down to kneeling like Sony has been in recent times) - will take advantage of Sony's offerings.

Re:Sony will figure out a way

[man_the_king]

The XCP rootkit alone should have clued you that you're an idiot for buying electronics from them, that was only 10 years ago. Yes, I was a victim and yes, I'm pissed that nobody went to prison for it. Once bitten, twice shy.

The XCP rootkit incident did not affect me - however, I was rational enough to realize that the incident had been perpetrated by BMG Crescendo just before it was acquired by Sony Music or during the acquisition (look up the timeline). And I like the quality of the electronics they make. I also realize that Sony had many different arms which seemed to not even work well together - Sony Music was not governed by the people who make TVs, Blu-ray Players or the PS3. It's only recently that their different divisions seem to have started working towards common goals.

The OtherOS debacle was only five years ago, the hack only a couple of years ago.

As for the OtherOS debacle, while I don't really like them taking away a feature (that they did NOT advertize, no matter how much haters like to claim that they did), I can understand the panicked mindset that led them to that rash decision. An idiot called Geohot had just decided to publicize and teach others how to use the OtherOS capability to hack into the PS3 architecture.

Moreover, Sony's response to the hacks has been much better than ANY other corporation out there - including CitiCorp, Microsoft, etc. They even offered a one-year free identity theft protection. The only reason you are harping on about the hack is because it was Sony.

...and the fact that they're going to require an always-on internet connection for single player games shows they have no remorse and have no plans to become any less evil.

You are thinking of Microsoft and the NextBox. Sony have clearly said they are NOT going to require always-on internet connection for games. So making up lies to support your claim now?

I'm willing to bet that many of the Sony-haters are XBox fans - who conveniently forget that Microsoft also screwed them over by releasing faulty consoles. Mayhaps you are one of them? Viva la Kinect, right?

...you're an idiot ...brain-dead stupid ...You're a fucking idiot ...dumbass.

Wow, you really have a bee up your bonnet - calling people brain-dead, stupid, idiots and dumb-ass just because they happen to prefer buying well-made products.

Since you've now insulted me, sworn at me, and called me names multiple times, let me respond in kind: you are a grudge-nursing, bilious, vindictive, jerk.

And it's in Japan

[hedwards]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Japan already have better connection options than the US? I know that it's fast, but how is this particularly notable?

Re:And it's in Japan

[hedwards]

Yes, but what's the point of comparing it with Google's fiber when they aren't even in the same part of the world?

Unless they're planning to set up their network in a part of the world where Google is also thinking about setting up a network, the comparison is completely meaningless.

Re:And it's in Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

That would be a valid point if major US cities had fiber. Except they don't. They have shitty expensive internet just like the rest of the country.

Re:And it's in Japan

[wonkey_monkey]

Because it goes up to 11.

Re:And it's in Japan

[hawguy]

Yes, but what's the point of comparing it with Google's fiber when they aren't even in the same part of the world?

Unless they're planning to set up their network in a part of the world where Google is also thinking about setting up a network, the comparison is completely meaningless.

Because Google is held up as the shining example of what the telcos *could* be providing us... yet in Japan Sony is offering twice the speed for less cost. So maybe Google's offering is not the holy grail of home internet and telcos should be doing better.

Re:And it's in Japan

[hawguy]

Japan has incredibly high population densities relative to the U.S. (same with South Korea), this comparison is pointless. Fiber is expensive over distances, which the U.S. has a lot of.

San Francisco has a higher population density than Tokyo, yet my choices for "high speed" internet are 20mbit Comcast or "up to" 6mbit DSL service from AT&T. U-verse should be "coming soon".

So it's not just density - the USA has plenty of dense cities without ubiquitous and cheap gigabit internet.

Re:And it's in Japan

[hawguy]

I think we all understand the difference in population density and how that affects the cost to provide infrastructure services. That plays a big part in how places in Japan can offer better price and performance than places in the US.

So what's the excuse in NY, SF, Chicago, Boston and other high density cities that have a population density greater than Tokyo? If Google can wire up low-density Kansas City and Austin, why can't the telcos figure out how to make money wiring up a neighborhood full of high density apartment buildings?

Re:And it's in Japan

[hawguy]

The numbers are a few years old, but still pretty relevant.

Seoul is ~16,000 people per square kilometer with > 17.5 million residents
Tokyo/Yokohama is ~4,700 people per square kilometer with > 33 million residents
Los Angeles is ~2,750 people per square kilometer with ~12 million residents
New York City is ~2,050 people per square kilometer with ~18 million residents

The United States has nowhere near the concentrations or densities of people that Japan and South Korea has. On top of that, the USA has vast distances of relatively nothingness that you need to account for as well... you have to look at the big picture of it all.

Source: http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-density-125.html

I think your figures are looking at metro areas, not cities -- Wikipedia says NY population density is 27,550/sq mi (10,640/km2),

Those vast areas of nothingness don't really matter if you're rolling out fiber to a city, you don't have to roll out fiber to Kansas if you are rolling it out in New York City.

Re:And it's in Japan

[hawguy]

If you look at cities instead of metro areas:

NY: 27,550/sq mi (10,640/km2)
Tokyo: 6,000/km2 (16,000/sq mi)

Re:And it's in Japan

[hawguy]

Which is an apples to pineapples comparison. Japan is a compact country with a high population density and that too in a few densely populated metros, so drawing fiber lines to just those major metros is nowhere near as big a challenge as getting vast open cities in the US such as Kansas City or Austin connected. Hedwards is therefore right - comparing a Sony setup in Japan w/ a Google setup in the US is therefore meaningless in terms of demonstrating that 'Google should be doing better'. Also, how are the costs being compared - like what percentage of an average family income in Japan would be spent on this, vs that percentage of an average family income in the US?

The above story is useful in itself in describing how internet connectivity outside wireless is getting upgraded in Japan. But it's worthless if the idea is to compare it w/ Google projects in the US, or any other company's project in any other country.

If density were the real issue, NYC, Chicago, Boston, SF, Wash DC would all have cheap residential gigabit fiber.

Re:And it's in Japan

[Captain Segfault]

If you're going to do a comparison like this you really need to count just the 23 special wards (14,485 per square kilometer). Tokyo the prefecture-equivalent "metropolis" includes a lot of areas which are essentially suburban sprawl west of Tokyo -- the Tama area. I don't think anyone would really consider, for example, Hachioji to be part of Tokyo the city, but it is a substantial fraction of Tokyo metropolis -- and if you're coming up with a number as low as 6,810 you're including it.

This is complicated by the fact there is no longer a government for Tokyo City, which is what used to be the 23 wards. The wards themselves are cities, somewhat comparable to a more independent and smaller form of NYC Boroughs. Conversely, Tokyo metropolis would be something like a separate State of New York City which includes both the Boroughs and Long Island and a couple of small islands in the Caribbean.

With that said, there's no ward of Tokyo which is as dense as Manhattan. mostly because there aren't a lot of tall buildings. The technology to build earthquake resistant skyscrapers is relatively new compared to a lot of the construction.

Re:And it's in Japan

[Grishnakh]

3. Anti-competitive behavior. Existing ISPs will do anything they can to derail any challenge to their "high-speed" ISP access monopoly. Yes, DSL and satellite are available, but they don't offer the same speeds.

And this is a governmental problem. Why are existing companies allowed to "derail" anyone who wants to compete with them? Obviously, countries such as Japan and Sweden don't have this problem; if some company wants to set up a new ISP service, they just do so, which is why they aren't stuck with dog-slow speeds and insanely-high prices like we Americans are.

It all comes down to corruption. The USA is as corrupt as Mexico, where rich corporations use the government to set up effective monopolies and prevent any competition. Then we stupid Americans run around complaining about government "regulation" (which is what you need to ensure competition in the first place).

Re:And it's in Japan

[Ioldanach]

The potential infrastructure available to deployment in the US vs Japan is vastly different. Japan has a population density of 836 people per square mile. That's over 1 person per acre. The US has a population density of 86 per square mile. The difference is a factor of ten. That dramatically reduces the cost per person to deploy, because every mile of fiber can reach many, many more people. In the US, it only becomes cost effective to deliver high speed services in very limited areas. In Japan you can reach a much greater percentage of the population with high speed services.

Re:And it's in Japan

[hawguy]

And this is a governmental problem. Why are existing companies allowed to "derail" anyone who wants to compete with them?

I agree. When someone mugs me, I don't blame the mugger. I blame the police.

If the mugger mugs you every day while a policeman stands by and purposely looks the other direction, you should probably blame the police more than the mugger. The mugger is looking out for his own best interests, he has a family to feed after all, but you are paying the police to look out for *your* interests.

After the first $million ...

[Compaqt]

Is there really a noticeable difference between 1Gbps and 2?

Re:After the first $million ...

[nospam007]

"Is there really a noticeable difference between 1Gbps and 2?"

A big one, the data has to wait twice as long for your harddisk.

Re:After the first $million ...

[petermgreen]

Sure, however once the speed of the connection from your house to your ISPs PoP gets over a certain speed it stops being a significant factor in the overall user experiance. Other factors including limited bandwidth at the server, bandwidth limitations in the ISPs (both client side and server side) networks, limited speed of your hard drive, human time to select things in the user interface, time for servers to process requests and so-on become the limiting factors on the overall performance.

Amazing tentacle detail . . .

[PeeAitchPee]

. . . now in 1080p with 7.1 surround!

Even has a SLA!

[SmurfButcher Bob]

...if for any reason it causes the silentl install of a rootkit or performs some other criminal act within your enterprise, you'll be entitled to a pair of $1 iTunes gift certificates.
Take THAT, google fiber!

$51 is expensive?

[MickyTheIdiot]

It's arguable that with everything that a Comcast subscription requires that we pay 2-3 times that depending on what you REALLY want and use out of your service.

I think it's an extremely reasonable price given U.S. conditions.

Re:$51 is expensive?

[Atlas_Atkinson]

"INexpensive 4,980 yen ($51)"

Unless I'm reading your intentions wrong, this service is cheaper then most,
ex. TechSavy 50Mb/s(35Mb/s actual) Unlimited @ 70$/month.(Canada)

Re:$51 is expensive?

[MickyTheIdiot]

ugh.. but you're right.

Hmmm ...

[gstoddart]

I don't know how Sony treats people in Japan, but for me Sony would be the last company I would trust as my ISP.

People who install root-kits on computers are going to go to great lengths to look out for their own interests. They also don't have the greatest track record for security.

I'm probably just a tad bitter and cynical, but there's a lot of ways in which my distrust/dislike of Sony would make me think this isn't something I'd want. They'll probably be doing DPI and everything else shady you can imagine.

Re:Hmmm ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize that sony is a massive company and the division that would run the isp is not the same division as Sony BMG?

If you didn't know, see divisions don't necessarily know what the others are doing and they definitely don't get a say in their decision making. When you grow up and start working for a company, you'll start to understand this.

If you did know, well shame on you for circle jerking over "evil sony". Give it a break already, it happened 6 years ago. they apologized, learned their lesson, and they haven't done it since. What more do you want? Kazuo Hirai to personally come to your home and blow you? Get off it.

Speed is not everything

[Yvanhoe]

Last time I was in Japan, I had a good connection, but the ISP decided to drop every ssh connection above a given traffic. My tunnels kept being broken until I set a speed limit on my side.

I tried also to seed some videos (that I created) but did not manage to get peers at more than 1KB/s

It is good to have a high speed, but it is useless if it is just to watch youtube videos. I won't trade the decent DSL I have here in France through a protocol-tolerant ISP (Free Telecom) to a fiber connection through someone like Sony who is well known for its tight control.

Re:What's the catch?

[RevWaldo]

They use 1s and 0s where everyone else uses 0s and 1s.

.

What router should I buy?

[Krneki]

So, I got this super-awesome 2Gbps internet connection. What cheap router (max 50E) should I buy?

Yeah yeah, so what?

[SmallFurryCreature]

New York is very densely populated. It still doesn't have anywhere near close Asian speeds. Hell, Holland is LESS densely populated AND it has higher speeds. So does Sweden.

Not all of the US is a desolate wasteland inhabited by rednecks. Some parts are almost civilized, and still the infrastructure sucks donkey balls. Explain that?

Re:Yeah yeah, so what?

[unixisc]

You didn't read his post. It's not about desolate wasteland or anything else. It's just that there are huge distances to be covered, which raises the costs of laying fiber everywhere. Whereas much of the Japanese interior is mountaineous and so thinly populated that they wouldn't be putting fiber there, but they would be putting it in Tokyo, Yokohoma, Kyoto, Osaka and other major cities.

Whereas if they put it in San Francisco or New York, they'd have to expand, unless the plan is to just provide it at the Embarcadero or Manhattan. If they started in Manhattan, ultimately, they'd want/have to spread it out to Queens, NJ, Upstate, CT and so on. Or in San Francisco, extend it to the peninsula, Marin county, Oakland, Berkeley and rest of Alameda and ultimately Santa Clara counties. Not something they'd run into much of in Japan - there, each city would be an island of fiber, and not have to be extensively extended. Such an exercise would be similarly feasable in South Korea - service Seoul and Busan and a few other major cities.

For really huge stretches of territory, such as China, US, Russia, India, Brazil, it makes more sense to have high bandwidth wireless, so that one doesn't have to undergo the headaches of laying down fiber from Moscow to Vladivostok, or Bangalore to Delhi, or Los Angeles to New York.

Re:Yeah yeah, so what?

[hawguy]

Whereas if they put it in San Francisco or New York, they'd have to expand, unless the plan is to just provide it at the Embarcadero or Manhattan. If they started in Manhattan, ultimately, they'd want/have to spread it out to Queens, NJ, Upstate, CT and so on. Or in San Francisco, extend it to the peninsula, Marin county, Oakland, Berkeley and rest of Alameda and ultimately Santa Clara counties. Not something they'd run into much of in Japan - there, each city would be an island of fiber, and not have to be extensively extended. Such an exercise would be similarly feasable in South Korea - service Seoul and Busan and a few other major cities.

Why would they "have" to expand? Is someone Forcing Google to provide fiber in Austin since Kansas City was such a success?

Re:That's great news!

[SJHillman]

You can 'compete' with someone you're not in direct business competition for. If nothing else, being able to market as "The fast ISP on Earth' (or you could even get away with 'In the known Universe') sounds better than 'The fastest ISP in the country'.

So what

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

Why do I care how fast Japanese can access content when it takes 30 seconds to load www.google.com in Canada using one of the top telco's in the country?

Canada truly is the 3rd world of internet access.

Aside from that, not sure how or why Sony is getting into the ISP fray. Could be that they are failing in every other division so why not enter a new market.

Personally, I will wait for Samsung's internet services, Japan itself is failing in innovation all around.

Re:sony rootkit

[SternisheFan]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sony_rootkit

never forget, never forgive

Thank you AC, though currently modded off-topic, you saved me the trouble of googling for 'rootkit'. Seems very topical to this story. So, Sony inserted drm's into unsuspecting users computers, and disabled the copying of legally owned music and software. Mod up informative from us less geeky neckbeards.

US

[VeryBest52]

Get back to me when they wire up the US ;)

Re:Competition is great.

[seven of five]

No, this is just for the Japanese market. American telcos continue to slumber in their golden beds.