State of Broadband Internet in the World (May 2008)

[diogen]

Very interesting report. Strongly recommended. Summary table on page 18.
http://www.itif.org/files/ExplainingBBLeadership.pdf
Very interesting statistical analysis of what matters:
age, income, PC at home, population density, loop distance, urbanization, etc.

Comments
Trifecta of lost opportunities: US #15 in broadband ranking

Diogen.

 

[allargon]

The US was never #1 in broadband penetration. Our population is too spread out vs. concentrated populations in Asia and Europe. I did read the article mentioning what Sweden is doing. It's a good plan. Unfortunately, our government funds are tied up in the Middle East and Central Asia right now.

BTW, what does this have to do with Blu-Ray, HD DVD, HD VMD, etc.?

 

[JoeSp]

Very interesting article Diogen. The question begs, just how much speed does one need to enjoy the internet. I have 1.5 and find that for the way I use the internet it works fine. Others, like yourself are looking to Broadband for HDM downloading and use. Maybe both of us can have our cake? I live in the country -- 6 miles from the closest town. It took 8 years for my local telephone company to get broadband out to my neck of the woods after they introduced it to the town. It took cable 18 years to get cable within 1/4 mile of my house (and they still do not know when they will extend it down my street) after they introduced cable to the town.

I state this because our country is in the midst of a tech crisis that most do not know is going on. Our electrical infrastructure is not capable of handling the amount of power that our cities and growing communities in the country need. In some area of the country landline is no longer possible and because of cell phones some areas now have multiple area codes because they have run out of numbers (unknown to the public is that an area code for cell phones sometimes does not work everywhere - example one in Texas does not work in North Carolina!). The growth of an alternative fuel like hydrogen hampered by the infratructure of delivering gas so even if hydrogen fuel cars are avalable we will have a hard time delivering the product for use.

The bottom line is that the USA was built on old technology. Our infratructures to support our economy has pretty much been stretched to its limits and does not need an overhaul -- it needs replacement. Places like big cites are getting fiberoptics for communication but the rollout is very limited and only those folks living in those cities will benefit. How about the rest of us?

Touting technology that comes to you (and you are very fortunate if you can get fiberoptic) is great for you but for someone like me who lives in an area where I am surounded by $600,000 homes and I just got 1.5 DSL in 2007 becomes a moot point. Talking about 6 or 10 or even 20 mb internet is moot when even in town the fastest DSL is 3.0 and cable is 6.0 (only in town?)

I know that you are a strong advocate for HDM from the internet. What you don't see is that faster internet is not just around the corner for most of us because we don't live in the exact right place for implementation and there is no government requirement that it be made availiable to us.

 

[meStevo]

IMO, a price point is going to be found and downloadable media is going to explode. Bandwidth will only be a factor to those in outlying areas and whatnot, but that's too bad. One day they'll be able to use those services too (or use them as-is, albeit 'slower').

It's like saying OTA HD will never catch on, because I live in a valley with my pigs and can't see towers.

So that's a reason against OTA HD? They shouldn't do it at all? No.

To me, Blu-Ray has this same opportunity... if they can hit a price that I don't second guess when dumping money into the Best Buy coffers.

If you aren't in a place to enjoy this, it doesn't mean it shouldn't happen... and it's not 'most' of you, its a very small minority.

 

[JoeSp]

There is enough business out there for HDM on the internet to be profitable. The question of when the internet becomes fast enough for folks other then fringe users to purchase and use HDM from the net is the real question. I too believe that it is going to happen but I don't see any explosion. I see markets in large cities where a faster internet will be offered. I also don't see downloading media replacing disc based media any time real soon if ever. As I said earlier, there is plenty of business out there for everybody -- as long as the dollar continues to float. There will be consumers who want to download their media and there will be consumers who prefer owning a copy on disc. That's the market today and for the forseeable future.

 

[diogen]

Our population is too spread out vs. concentrated populations in Asia and Europe.

It looks like Norway and Iceland in addition to Sweden are more rural that the US and still have better broadband coverage...
Broadband: other countries do it better, but how?

Interesting that current US president talked on this issue for the last time in 2004...

Diogen.

 

[JoeSp]

It looks like Norway and Iceland in addition to Sweden are more rural that the US and still have better broadband coverage...
Broadband: other countries do it better, but how?

Interesting that current US president talked on this issue for the last time in 2004...

Diogen.

Is not their infrastructure alot newer then ours? Are their countries not alot smaller then ours? Are their populations alot smaller then ours? Seems like an apple to oranges comparison here Diogen?

 

[diogen]

Read the article, Joe...

Diogen.

 

[JoeSp]

Read the article, Joe...

Diogen.

I did and that was my point at the end of my post:

'there is no government requirement that it be made availiable to us. '

There are way to many important infrastructure problems to move the internet up the food chain. States are scrambling to inspect and repair bridges after the nightmare in Minneapolis. There also is an immediate need to improve the electrical grid or else alot of us will be sitting in the dark alot more in the near future. And without electricity the internet is moot.

And none of these problems has a government mandate to improve to a certain level or a date to be done. Our government right now has been in a quagmire since the days of Nixon. Not much legislation has been enacted that has moved our country forward. As a matter of fact - it looks like we are moving backwards and we are falling behind everyone else. I do not see our direction changing with the current crop of politicians that we have. The status quo has become more important then actually leading. And that is very unfortunate because we are starting to lose every edge we had with our competitors. Soon our country will be second rate right down the line -- except for our military of course.

 

[diogen]

I'm not a US resident and try to avoid political discussions... But if you want...

If $30B federal money is needed to bring the Internet to the level of the best but the money is spent
on the military to the tune of $1B a day instead - that is not an infrastructure problem...

I bet nationalizing the assets of just one oil baron family - Bush - will solve the internet problem...

Diogen.

 

[JoeSp]

I'm not a US resident and try to avoid political discussions... But if you want...

If $30B federal money is needed to bring the Internet to the level of the best but the money is spent
on the military to the tune of $1B a day instead - that is not an infrastructure problem...

I bet nationalizing the assets of just one oil baron family - Bush - will solve the internet problem...

Diogen.

:up

 

[diogen]

And here is the "State of the Internet" in the US
State of the Internet

Here is the irony: Microsoft home state is the the slowest state in the country.

Comments
Akamai reports what we already know: US broadband not so hot

Diogen.

 

[nonrev]

And here is the "State of the Internet" in the US
State of the Internet

http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/1312226~16f9d606c35d5bcf5860ae415d43db72/Internet_2008.pdf

Here is the link to the complete Akamai report, your link required registration. Pretty good read. There's plenty of additional information in the Report worth digging through particularly for those interested in security.