Society Lightning-fast broadband connections [in Japan] leave U.S. infrastructure in the Dark Ages.

[fkeidjn]

From the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...091238D78.DTL&hw=japan+internet&sn=002&sc=438
and
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...U1PRRJ24.DTL&hw=japan+internet&sn=001&sc=1000
and to spark some kind of discussion - comments from SF Chronicle readers
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2007/08/30/BU1PRRJ24.DTL

Basically, the title speaks for itself.
The subtitle for the second link says "Lightning-fast broadband connections leave U.S. infrastructure in the Dark Ages."

For those who live in the USA, what do you think about your internet connection? How should the United States improve their internet infrastructure in order to catch up with Japan? If you don't live in the United States or Japan, you want to discuss this also?

I'll post my opinion about this later.

 

[Zwivix]

Re: "Japan rockets ahead into the Internet's future"

Curse you smart Japanese..... Well my internet is slow.. Every computer is at an ok speed for my standards. Of course the Japanese are gonna be faster then us on Internet. They have the resources to imporve The U.S. government is more intrested in other things (I dont want to start a big discussion, but their more intrested in the War in Iraq and oil).

Btw i see your from San Francisco...or you like their newspaper

Also i dont think this will get much traffic...most people dont post here. Or thats what ive seen.

 

[fkeidjn]

Re: "Japan rockets ahead into the Internet's future"

I don't read the SF Chronicle, but it was an article that I saw when passing by someplace. I can't tell you where I live though, not even the city...

 

[Zwivix]

Re: "Japan rockets ahead into the Internet's future"

O so u just like the newspaper...lol that was another possiblity but that would have been a good guess.

 

[segua]

Re: "Japan rockets ahead into the Internet's future"

I believe it may be easier for a county like Japan to implement it due to it's relatively small size when compared with the U.S.

I'm sure the U.S. has more resources than Japan. It's just that those resources are spent on questionable things.

I think the broadband services in the States could always be better and I know it will get better. Time and money are the restraint.

 

[zindryr]

This isn't really news. The U.S. used to be the country with the best internet services in the world, but now we're ranked around 15th or lower. We allocated resources and gave money to a lot of the ISPs to upgrade our infrastructure so that we would all have fiber optic cable, but nothing ever happened with that and the money basically disappeared into the deep pockets of the huge broadband companies like TimeWarner.

 

[fkeidjn]

The last two paragraphs in the second link I posted says this:

As a champion of Japanese-style competition through regulation, Cerf supports network neutrality legislation pending in Congress. It would mandate that phone and cable companies treat all online traffic equally, without imposing higher tolls for certain content.

U.S. phone and cable companies, which control about 98 percent of the country's broadband market, strongly oppose the proposed laws, saying they would discourage the huge investments needed to upgrade broadband speed.

I think this quote and this blog entry are the keys as to why the United States is not getting better internet and why Japan and other countries are jumping forward. The internet companies want more money for services that are worth less than they actually are.

 

[segua]

I see what you are saying. Because of strong market domination, innovation lags. In this case, if a new and strong competitor is able to break into the market and offers superior internet solutions for an affordable price, that is when the major players might consider jumping onto the band wagon.

 

[fkeidjn]

I think these big companies are forming trusts behind our backs in order to keep prices jacked up and competition low.

About the type of high-speed internet (correct me if I'm wrong):
Japanese is quickly transitioning to fiber-optic cable, while the US is mostly using either coaxial cable or DSL, although Verizon and some smaller companies are beginning to offer fiber-optic connections (Verizon FiOS), which is supposed to be faster and cheaper (or the same price as) than cable. If there is anybody who is/was using fiber optic and a former/current customer of coaxial or DSL, please tell us how your connection is/was