We all know that America is the technology hub of the universe. It is home to Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Sun, Google, YouTube, Yahoo, MIT – the list is endless. So why, when it comes to the basics, like delivering the internet to its citizens, has it fallen way behind many other nations? In Manhattan people pay about $30 (£15) a month for a download speed of three megabits per second (Mbps) via a DSL line. Many people are very happy with that, until they realise what is going on elsewhere in the world. ‘In Japan you can get 100 megabits for $35,’ says Selina Lo of Ruckus Wireless. ‘I think that has penetrated some 30% of subscribers. The government is targeting for 100 megabit services to penetrate 60% plus of the subscriber base in a few years. ‘If you look at places like Hong Kong and Europe, in many places you can get over 10 megabits from your broadband network.’ Ten years ago, dozens of small DSL companies offered American consumers ever decreasing rates to the point where the businesses collapsed. Today most New Yorkers have two choices for home net – via their phone or […]
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
U.S. Kept in Slow Broadband Lane
Stephan: Like the fiction that we have the best healthcare in the world, most Americans seem to believe that we have the best internet access. Both are pernicious lies, and what makes both of them untrue is exactly the same thing. Our healthcare is a shambles because the system was sold to the illness-profit industry. Our internet, as this report, points out, has fallen far to the rear, because corporate interests have gained a measure of control over it, and it serves their interests to keep the internet slow. Anyone who travels abroad, particularly in Asia, experiences an internet that exists on an entirely different level than the one we enjoy. Normally on Cox cable I get about 1.78 Mbps. In Tokyo, where wi-fi is available all over the city, it was 6 Mbps. The airline industry is so disdainful of its customers, that in most airports in the U.S. it costs $9.95 for a day rate (read the two hours you are laying over). We are becoming a backward country by a whole catalogue of measures while, in fantasy, we think we are heading the parade.
