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How Far Will You Go For Highest Speed Internet?

Zecheus (1072058) writes "This community is extraordinarily rural. It is considered among the northernmost in the world. In the summer, temperature rises as high as 40F. There are more polar bears than humans. Even the usual ubiquitous and generous Norwegian health care is out of reach: inhabitants leave for the south to give birth or to die. On the other hand, it enjoys the highest quality Internet experience in the world due to recently installed fiber. Care to give it a try? By the way, the area has a turnover rate of over 25% every year."

90 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. So how fast is it...? by QRDeNameland · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How do you write an article about the "highest speed internet" in the world without a single quantification of how fast it actually is?

    --
    Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
    1. Re:So how fast is it...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The most specific the article gets is

      Svalbard enjoys speeds estimated to be 10 to 20 times as fast as any in the rest of Norway.

      .

      Given that it's possible to get gbit fiber, well...

    2. Re:So how fast is it...? by Like2Byte · · Score: 2

      The most specific the article gets is

      Svalbard enjoys speeds estimated to be 10 to 20 times as fast as any in the rest of Norway.

      .

      Given that it's possible to get gbit fiber, well...

      But you *did* read it. See what they did there?

      Thus endith the lesson. :)

    3. Re:So how fast is it...? by QRDeNameland · · Score: 2

      Did you read the article?

      Yes. And the closest thing to a quantification was "10 to 20 times as fast as any in the rest of Norway." Which means....what? It tells me that the guy has 43 TB of storage capacity, and even specific climate info about the town, but I'm left to guess the specs of the internet link, which is the subject of the article?

      Did I miss something?

      --
      Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
    4. Re:So how fast is it...? by Like2Byte · · Score: 2

      No, no. Not at all. I was simply suggesting that maybe their point wasn't to get statistics out; but, rather, obtain eyeballs.

      I think you're totally spot on - what a wasted opportunity and inferior article. They made a claim without substantiating it at any length.

      Oh, and sorry if I offended you. That certainly wasn't my intent. The whole thing is humorous to me.

    5. Re:So how fast is it...? by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Why, yes, yes I did. Twice, to make sure I wasn't imagining it.

      But noooooo, not a single mention of the speed.

      I've got fiber right to the little box under my table for 29.95 Euros a month+tax. I have to limit the Bit torrent rate because my hard disk can't keep up with full speed downloads and Windows 7 craps its pants trying to expand the page file to cope (does that make sense to any OS designers outside Redmond?). I'm sure his can't be that much better.

      --
      No sig today...
    6. Re:So how fast is it...? by QRDeNameland · · Score: 1

      Oh...never mind...subtle whoosh on my part. :)

      --
      Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
    7. Re:So how fast is it...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you're using uTorrent, it incorrectly uses memory mapped files in Windows, which causing the Kernel to not release memory mapped ranges and eventually uses all of your physical memory. This is actually working as intended for Windows, which means there is a known way to DOS the host if you have local access. The best part is this memory does not show allocated to a user, but to the kernel, so you can't easily find what is causing the havok.

      It's as much uTorrent's fault as it is Window's. It is clearly documented that it works this way when using certain memory mapped file types that uTorrent uses, but it is a horrible design by Microsoft. uTorrent refuses to "fix" this issue because they consider it entirely a problem of Windows. All they need to do is not use memory mapped files and do their own cashing or not cache at all. But nope. This issue is several years old, but is only now becoming more prevalent with faster Internet connections.

    8. Re:So how fast is it...? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

      And the closest thing to a quantification was "10 to 20 times as fast as any in the rest of Norway." Which means....what?

      A Norwegian will tell you that the rest of Norway is twice as fast as Sweden. A Swede will claim the opposite.

      Hope that helps.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    9. Re:So how fast is it...? by houghi · · Score: 2

      For the people selling it, it is extremely fast. For peole who start using it, it is very fast. For people who use it for a longer time it is pretty fast. For /. people using it on day 2 it is meh.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    10. Re:So how fast is it...? by Kjella · · Score: 4, Informative

      Digging a little they're talking about a 50/50Mbit connection (Norwegian), so the article is wildly exaggerated... triple the mean connection yes, not 10-20 times.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    11. Re:So how fast is it...? by war4peace · · Score: 1

      So much for "fastest in the world".
      I have 1000 Mbit at home for 18 bucks a month, flat rate, no limits.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    12. Re:So how fast is it...? by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      If you're using uTorrent, it incorrectly uses memory mapped files in Windows,

      I am, yes.

      Maybe I should change...

      --
      No sig today...
    13. Re:So how fast is it...? by ruir · · Score: 1

      I have 100/100 at home and 1000Mbps at work. I live in Portugal, far better weather and food ;) So come again, why going so far?

    14. Re:So how fast is it...? by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Or maybe I should view restricting the bandwidth to a speed the hard disk can cope with as a First-World Problem...

      --
      No sig today...
  2. Size of the pipe. by MorbidBBQ · · Score: 1

    Highest speed, or best throughput? Does 2ms of delay for a stock transaction matter more, or 2 seconds of buffering a 1080p movie?

    1. Re:Size of the pipe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Fastest bitcoin mining and best cooling is most important.

    2. Re:Size of the pipe. by CastrTroy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly. High speed connections aren't any good if your ping times are terrible because you're so far away from civilization. Also, once you get up around 100 mbit/s, it doesn't really matter how fast the connection is. At that point you could stream more than a few HD movies. Let us also not forget that many spinning platter drives have sustained write speeds of less than 100 MB per second, which means that as you approach gigabit speeds, you network connection actually exceeds the speed you can write the data to disk.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:Size of the pipe. by Kjella · · Score: 1

      If you've just bought a new game on Steam and it's a 20GB download, do you want to wait half an hour (100Mbit) or 3 minutes (Gigabit)? If you're browsing 20MP+ photos online, do the pictures load faster in your browser? What if your disk crashed and you want to get something big from online backup? And as far as I know there's still no BluRay quality streaming service, if you're downloading a torrent then 5 minutes or an hour certainly matters. Yes, 100 to 1000 Mbit is less important than 10 to 100 and even less important than 1 to 10, but I'd take it for a reasonable premium. I know the people on Gigabit trial here in Norway now has been promised to continue it for $100 (599 NOK) a month, which is only slightly more than I pay for 100 Mbit today. I don't need it, but just having more than enough and never lacking bandwidth is one less concern.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  3. Back in my day by alta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I remember how happy I was the first time I had cable internet. I was beta testing for comcast. Free for the first 6 months. So exciting. Now, I'm old (37) and bandwidth doesn't excite me the way it used to. I'm paying for 10MB I get 12MB... I could get up to 100, but why bother. I come home, sit on my couch and have a beer. The kids can and I can play all the minecraft we want on that 12MB connection.

    --
    Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
    1. Re:Back in my day by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

      The cynic in me would say, all customers of Comcast are beta testing for them...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Back in my day by ackthpt · · Score: 1

      I'm happy with a 5 MB connection, I hardly tap it out and the matter of bandwidth caps is also a consideration - I'm not planning to pay money when I hit a cap, it's better to just take a vacation from the interwebs.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    3. Re:Back in my day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Bandwidth doesn't really matter after a certain point, 10 Mb is certainly enough for most purposes. Latency is important, though. I'd rather have a 10 Mb connection with no significant latency than an 100 (or 1000) Mb connection with an annoying latency.

      My current connection is 1 Gb up and down (campus student housing network), with the real download bandwidth being around one third of that at peak times. I see no significant difference to my previous 100 Mb up/down, as no services support this high speeds. I suspect even peer-to-peer systems would have trouble getting to that speed before completing the transfer. The latency is excellent, though.

    4. Re:Back in my day by asylumx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Bandwidth doesn't really matter after a certain point

      Also, 640k will be enough for anyone!

    5. Re:Back in my day by alen · · Score: 1

      when i explained what a smart TV was to my mom all she said was that it was a way to make you spend more money, which is true

      all the faster connections do is make impulsive challenged people buy something NOW and spend more money

    6. Re:Back in my day by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      I guess you are too young to remember downloading DOOM on at 2400bps modem. That took about 2 hours... And that is all you could do with your PC. Unless you had an expensive OS/Shell like OS2 or Desqview. And still your modem was fully occupied.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    7. Re:Back in my day by alex67500 · · Score: 1

      Because of the well-known maxim:
      The faster you download, the bigger your penis gets :-)

    8. Re:Back in my day by alen · · Score: 1

      i have 20/2 and netflix only needs 5 down for HD
      i can stream netflix and live TV or hbo go at the same time with no problems

    9. Re:Back in my day by almitydave · · Score: 1

      Technology is the foundation of all of society. It is the wheel, it is hospitals, it is the phone, is is electricity. Losing fervor about technology is like giving up on life and the betterment of society. Communications is the backbone of all technology, without the sharing of ideas, nothing would be accomplished.

      That's right, you have a moral obligation to buy the fastest internet access available to you.

      Hmm, now that I think about it, I'm going to try this argument on my wife. If she doesn't let me buy an ultrabook, she hates humanity.

      --
      my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their
      I'm, you're, he's/she's/it's, we're, you're, they're
    10. Re:Back in my day by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      It was relaxing to wait and dream about the great game downloading, slowly watching the bytes add up, and sipping coffee.

    11. Re:Back in my day by plover · · Score: 1

      Because of the well-known maxim:
      The faster you download, the bigger your penis gets :-)

      It's not the size of your bandwidth, but the motion of the torrents.

      --
      John
    12. Re:Back in my day by aztracker1 · · Score: 1

      Duh, that's why you get 3-4 phone lines... one for voice, one for you to dial out on, and one or two for you to run your bbs... Then your users upload DOOM to you overnight, or your FTN setup will get it to you for the GAMES sub... You bluebox your way into a long distance board to download the best new stuff for your users, and have l33t/pir8 access. New User Voting modules, and secret sub-bbs access boards abound. Though I was in it for the ansi/ascii art scenes and for the message boards more than anything.

      The fail is when you're stuck waiting 3 years for US Worst to actually get you more than a second phone line, despite living in a major metro area, when it's 1994 and BBSing is starting to die off in favor of the wider internet.

      --
      Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
    13. Re:Back in my day by war4peace · · Score: 1

      The advantage of living in a densely populated area was that I could take a HDD, go to a friend and transfer it directly. The trip back and forth, couple beers and transfer, added up, more than matched downloading it through modem lines, alone and munching own nails.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    14. Re:Back in my day by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      When I was younger, I thought this way.
      Now I've realized that with each new/faster thing, it's better to weight the pros and cons.
      Maybe the faster internet connection ISN'T the best thing to spend money on, and buying a gym membership more rewarding.
      My old tech watch gives me instant time for no cost, so I used it instead of a "pocketwatch/smartphone" combo.

      So....
      new for new's sake isn't new, it's just being taken advantage of.

    15. Re:Back in my day by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      If my dick was growing at the same ratio as my bandwidth, it's end would be approaching the speed of light (assuming a human could maintain relativistic wood).

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    16. Re:Back in my day by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Still the way to swap media collections.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    17. Re:Back in my day by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 1

      With 1 gb/s internet, you could have upwards of 2 million people playing FPS in the same zone. Basically with 1 gb/s Internet, you're limited by the number of people who want to play or other hardware concerns.

      Not every game needs 2 million players, but once they start digitizing the real world, we could see realistic reenactments of famous wars. Another application would be bigger MMORPGS. Some say,"Who needs that many players at once." But I say games have always trended better when the game play limitations have been lifted.

    18. Re:Back in my day by war4peace · · Score: 1

      In a metropolitan area? Not really. Everyone I know has either 500 or 1000 Mbit/s bandwidth, and we just temporarily share folders through filezilla when needed.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    19. Re:Back in my day by fulldecent · · Score: 1

      Sir, I work with the CIA and our sentiment analysis filters have flagged your post with a positive reaction towards Comcast Corporation. Please use this syntax in the future to assist us in avoiding such false positives: <span data-date-posted="April 1"></span>

      --

      -- I was raised on the command line, bitch

    20. Re:Back in my day by alta · · Score: 1

      BBSs died off? That's why no one is playing Usurper with me any more!

      --
      Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
    21. Re:Back in my day by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      It takes days to copy my media collection at SATA speed.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    22. Re:Back in my day by aztracker1 · · Score: 1

      I know you're joking.. but I do know of quite a few telnet boards still up and running...

      --
      Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
  4. Re:I'd Walk A Mile... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more, just to be the man who streams Netflix and torrents even that much more...

  5. How far? Not very... by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Eventually it will come to me. Every couple of years I get a free upgrade as the pipe gets fatter. I can wait.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  6. My speed is fine, fix the latency by Snotnose · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been happy with my throughput for years. However, my latency seems to rise few ms every year. As I spend more time gaming on-line than watching movies I'd be more willing to pay extra for lower latency.

    1. Re:My speed is fine, fix the latency by crtreece · · Score: 1

      It takes time to decrypt those packets, figure out if they are going to netflix, piratebay, etc; decide how much delay and replacement advertising to introduce; and implement the decision.

      --
      file: .signature not found
    2. Re:My speed is fine, fix the latency by PPH · · Score: 2

      However, my latency seems to rise few ms every year.

      That's just old age catching up with you. You need more fiber.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  7. It's only fast for now... by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

    As soon as all your neighbours start using it too, it'll slow down.

    *ducks and runs*

  8. Re:heck no by ackthpt · · Score: 1

    Tropics are overrated and the humidity plays havoc with connectors. The margaritas are good, though.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  9. turnover? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    I can understand perhaps 25% of the people leaving, but who is going back there to replace them? Is it like EA, they entice new recruits with the fun of playing video games?

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:turnover? by arcade · · Score: 1

      What repopulates the area? Easy.

      Taxes & import duty are very tiny. You've got some of the most beautiful nature you can imagine. There's lots of researchers connected with universities etc. - making for lots of interesting people to talk with.

      A lot of the turnover is actually students wrapping up their studies.

      --
      "Rune Kristian Viken" - http://www.nwo.no - arca
    2. Re:turnover? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Taxes & import duty are very tiny.

      Are those different than the rest of the country?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  10. Re:I'd Walk A Mile... by StatureOfLiberty · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thanks for your proclamation! (It threw a little sunshine on my day)

  11. Rural Electrification Act of 1935... by Bruinwar · · Score: 1

    Rural Electrification Act of 1935 brought electricity to rural U.S. In 1949 we extended the act to allow loans to telephone companies wishing to extend their connections to unconnected rural areas. Why can't we apply the same concept to broadband?

    --
    SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
    1. Re:Rural Electrification Act of 1935... by alen · · Score: 1

      why can't these republicans, and the rural areas are almost fully republican who preach the evils of taxes and high government spending not pay for it themselves? all the tea party nonsense is how bad the blue high tax parts of the country are and yet it's the red states that suck up most of the federal government money for airports that like 5 people use in a year and bridges with one car a day of traffic

    2. Re:Rural Electrification Act of 1935... by bobaferret · · Score: 1

      Just as an FYI. Obama administration has done a large number of federal grants to get fiber to rural schools, hospitals, libraries, and court houses. These grants allowed the companies to add on any commercial business along the way. These grants as far as I know do not include residential access however. You'll find that going to legal zoom and quickly creating an LLC will give you access however. We we're finally able to go from a T1@$800/month to 10Mbps at $500/month. Or in our case 50Mbit @ $900/month. The pricing is obviously still commercial, and not residential. But my point here is that it is coming, and it is being funded by the government. It's just pricey and slow to rollout. I might also suggest a neighborhood co-op to pay for the install and then wireless to all of the houses.

    3. Re:Rural Electrification Act of 1935... by PPH · · Score: 1

      We did.
      Back in the '90s we gave $2B to the telcos to run

      Which they did. Not even waiting to hear the last half of the sentence.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:Rural Electrification Act of 1935... by alen · · Score: 1

      yeah, billions in pork to build and support airports in rural areas along with hardly used bridges and lots of other "infrastructure"
      and i pay a tax to build out telecommunications in rural areas in the form of USF

      lots of studies show that the blue areas pay the most taxes and the red areas use up most of the federal spending while they preach independence and whatever

  12. One part conveniently left out by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One part conveniently left out is the military's part in this, they want fiber optics for a bunch of NATO surveillance activities, polar satellites and so on. It's pretty obvious why if you look at a map. Supplying the about 2600 permanent inhabitants with really fast broadband (100% fiber optics now) is just a side effect. True, this cabin area about 3 miles from the main settlement wasn't originally included in the plans, but when the inhabitants dig the ditch and all the fiber company has to do is roll out the cable drum it's a pretty good deal for them too. There are several rural areas - though not quite that remote - here in Norway which has done the digging as a community effort to make the cost bearable for the fiber company. Just last quarter the median broadband in Norway passed 10 Mbit/s, the mean is 18.4 Mbit/s and improving at a nice pace.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:One part conveniently left out by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      Supplying the about 2600 permanent inhabitants with really fast broadband (100% fiber optics now) is just a side effect.

      That's not how the telco official described it. He seemed to say that they were treating Svalbard as a small version of mainland Norway, where they could try new things and get quick feedback to make sure they're doing it right. He claimed that Svalbard was 10 years ahead of mainland Norway. He also suggested that they were seeing substantially lower maintenance costs with fiber, and were looking into removing all of the phone lines and coax and just using fiber. He seemed to imply that all of this was in preparation for rollout across mainland Norway.

      I'm sure the military benefits from the improved connectivity, but there are several benefits of treating the archipelago as a microcosm of the mainland. It sounds like he's trying to line up his company to implement this across Norway as efficiently as possible, military or not.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    2. Re:One part conveniently left out by Kjella · · Score: 1

      That's not how the telco official described it. He seemed to say that they were treating Svalbard as a small version of mainland Norway, where they could try new things and get quick feedback to make sure they're doing it right. He claimed that Svalbard was 10 years ahead of mainland Norway. He also suggested that they were seeing substantially lower maintenance costs with fiber, and were looking into removing all of the phone lines and coax and just using fiber. He seemed to imply that all of this was in preparation for rollout across mainland Norway.

      We have a lot of cheaper places they could use as test beds, they don't pull long underwater fiber cables just for that but as PR it sounds better. It is true that they're planning to move off copper though, actually the first trial county has already gone all fiber - no more copper service just fiber + mobile and maybe cable for those who already have that. They've said the copper network is supposed to be phased out by 2017, so if Svalbard is 10 years ahead then they're many years behind schedule on the mainland. Not surprised though, they've been late to the fiber party instead trying to push xDSL, they've lost 75% of their land line subscribers since 2000 and recently announced 10% of the staff had to go. Former cable and energy companies are rushing to wire up customers, the first to offer fiber usually wins. And so far they're more in the "expand and offer sweet deals" mode than "consolidate and exploit our captive users", I'm sure they'll get there but right now it's pretty good to be a consumer.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  13. 50 - 100 Mb/s by iktos · · Score: 3, Informative

    Of course Telenor themselves mention the bandwidth: http://www.telenor.com/media/a...
    Fibre optic with lots of Gb/s to the European mainland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
    Can be noted that any citizen of a country which has signed the Svalbard treaty can move there without needing any permit.

  14. Re:The real story: by noh8rz10 · · Score: 2

    i go outside to Skate or Die.

  15. Re:The real story: by PhotoJim · · Score: 1

    They go south precisely because it isn't very summery where they live. :)

  16. ISP monthly bandwidth limits temper speed by tagous · · Score: 1

    I am fine with my home high speed 30-50 Mbps. I however the crazy 350 GB monthly limit is nuts. ISPs boast bandwidth at a low price and find profit with the industry standard 250 and 350 monthly limits. With higher bandwidth I seem to just hit my limit faster

    1. Re:ISP monthly bandwidth limits temper speed by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the ISPs in my area all have really low monthly limits. I did some calculations, and found that no matter which package you choose, you only get around 9-15 hours of full speed transfer before you go over your quota. And you don't always get more hours by moving up to the next tier. Sometimes moving up to the next tier means you get less time on your full speed connection than on the lower package. And 250-350 would be more than I would ever use. The ISPs in my area seem to think that 80-150 should be enough, and even if you're paying for a 25 mbit connection, you should still only need 80 GB of transfer a month.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:ISP monthly bandwidth limits temper speed by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      It has gotten seriously out of control. There are some monthly plans around where I live where you can hit your Monthly cap in well under an hour of usage. What use is that?

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  17. Re:heck no by Moheeheeko · · Score: 1

    This, We cheer when it rains.

  18. Becoming content by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Becoming content is the first step to becoming complacent.

    How do you become content?

    I've heard about providing content, but becoming content? Is that, like, entering the matrix?

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Becoming content by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      Becoming content is the first step to becoming complacent.

      How do you become content?

      I've heard about providing content, but becoming content? Is that, like, entering the matrix?

      I think it has something to do with Facebook. Or maybe Google.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    2. Re:Becoming content by almitydave · · Score: 1

      Becoming content is the first step to becoming complacent.

      How do you become content?

      I've heard about providing content, but becoming content?

      Facebook.

      --
      my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their
      I'm, you're, he's/she's/it's, we're, you're, they're
  19. It's the upload speed that matters by tiznom · · Score: 1

    As someone who just had Gigabit fiber-optic broadband installed this week I know I would move quite a distance for a connection like this. There's no going back to my 4Mb ADSL connection I had Monday. The other comments pointing out that 50 or even 20Meg connections are only half right. What really matters is the up speed. I have 1Gb (actually tests about 850Mb/s) down and 100Mb up, and that up speed kicks major ass. Hard to describe really, but there is no more waiting for Dropbox to sync files, uploading a new site to a server is crazy fast, and videoconferencing is much better. I called my parents and my ability to send video far exceeds their capacity to recieve it, so they basically get perfect 720p of me and I see the same old pixelated version of them. Fiber at both ends would be really cool. As far as the 1Gb down, it's cool to download Ubuntu isos in a few seconds, but for most browsing the server never makes use of all that speed. Start sending a web page at 100Mb or so and it's loaded instantly so no need to go faster.

  20. Wait until... by Parker+Lewis · · Score: 1

    ...someone start some torrent exchanges, and all will go down! :D

  21. Nothing in article says highest speed in the world by xenoc_1 · · Score: 1

    Typical slashdot bad editors. Fastest in Norway != fastest in world.

    I now live in a small beach town in Uruguay, on a dirt road, and I got a free upgrade to fibre-to-home, which is being extended to every home in Uruguay. Time for me to get my bogus submission ready for "Uruguay has the best internet in the world". Just because a country is socialist on basic services, and extends fiber to everywhere, does not make it the best in the world. Makes it damn good, but "best" or as hyperbolically stated, "the highest quality Internet experience in the world" requires proof. As others have mentioned, that requires specific speeds, pings, and total transfer allowances, before making such a claim.

    Better than the Comcast/ATT/Verizon cabal does not mean "best". Despite what all you US-centric folks may think.

  22. I doubt it. by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    Is it standard Internet access or Internet II access?

    Because Internet II kicks the ever living hell out of standard internet even with the best and shiniest fiber connections. Your in route switches and routing means everything and Internet II still is massively faster than the old public internet.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  23. Re:Chattanooga by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Except the polar bears will be better neighbors.

  24. Bad Neighborhood by xdor · · Score: 1

    I moved into some crummy apartments in Dallas, TX just to get FiOS fiber (25Mbit/25Mbit). Really low latency: about 2ms to google if I recall.

  25. Also how is the backhaul? by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I mean sure, they have fast FTTH. Fair enough, but that doesn't do you much good if the backhaul to the rest of the Internet isn't sufficient to support the speeds.

    This is something that always gets left out of the "OMG t3h fast internetz!!!" articles on Slashdot. A lot of the "really fast" Internet in the world is basically a big WAN where you have a fast line, and thus fast speeds to your neighbors and ISP, but then lack the backhaul to get those kind of speeds to the wider Internet, since that's the really expensive part.

    Not saying that's the case here or not, but it is the kind of info that needs to be included to be useful. Along with, of course, the actual speed.

    1. Re:Also how is the backhaul? by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

      Well the local ISP WAN will be fine once Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV, etc. all live on it locally. In fact, do we really need an "Internet" at all once that is in place?

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      This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    2. Re:Also how is the backhaul? by alienmole · · Score: 1

      In this case, the connection out of Svalbard is decent - 10 Gb/s, "with a future potential capacity of 2,500 Gbit/s" via currently unused fiber. See Svalbard Undersea Cable System.

      One imagines that with the $50 million cost partly funded by NASA, that they also paid some attention to the peering connection at Harstad, where the connection terminates.

  26. Um, thanks, no by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    I live on the edge of the urban growth boundary in my area, and have fiber to the house, so internet access is just fine, thanks. And we have a total lack of polar bears here. Health care sucks, but we can do our own medical research on the net and order medical supplies from Amazon, so I guess it's not all bad.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  27. Re:As far as writing a program to get more by webmistressrachel · · Score: 1

    "-1: Off-Topic" x 15 ;-)

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  28. How Far Will I Go? by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

    Well I won't, but I would have to leave my continent to get decent Internet.

    At least Northern Norwegia borders places with good Internet speed, so all they needed was a few dozen miles of cable. As a rural Canadian I would have to cross Oceans to get to decent Internet.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  29. More polar bears than humans? by MitchDev · · Score: 1

    Hell, sign me up

  30. And how is that best in the world? by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    Where I live, you can get cable Internet that is 150/20mbps. It has the backhaul to support it too, you really get those kind of speeds. I've a friend on the other side of the US with FIOS who has even faster, 150/65mbps again with the backhaul to support the speed.

    This is in the US too. There are other countries that claim better.

  31. Alaska by Cammi · · Score: 1

    So ... they came here to Alaska? We don't have fiber.

  32. Re:heck no by nobuddy · · Score: 1

    "Dry" -
    That word you keep using. I do not think it means what you think it does. -Inigo Montoya
    I lived in Orange County as well as Oceanside. Dry is not the term I would use. When the air is so humid you have to chew it, that is wet. My position is relative, I grew up in a desert and lived at high altitudes the rest of the time except for that foray into SoCal.

  33. Bandwidth by erc · · Score: 1

    > Bandwidth doesn't matter after a certain point LOL! When you can load a Linux distro in seconds instead of tens of minutes you'll re-think that... I'd move for bandwidth :)

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    -- Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@pobox.com PGP KeyID: 0x0BD32C9B What I'm up to: http://intuitives.mine.nu
    1. Re:Bandwidth by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Bandwidth is important because it's usually a bottleneck. When your ISP connection is faster than your LAN, faster than anything upstream from your ISP, and faster than your disk drives, the exact speed is irrelevant.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  34. Re:Time to show what you really are troll by webmistressrachel · · Score: 1

    I love you, too, apk, we make quite the pair. I'd be offended by all this if I hadn't anticipated it when I posted my GP troll...

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