Global Broadband Speeds - US, UK suck...

[kdum8]

See this article from the BBC on global Internet speeds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8068598.stm

I knew that Japan was ahead, but I had no idea just quite how far ahead.
The US and UK are pitifully slow. Perhaps the US has some excuse since it is so large, but that can't wash in the UK. Japan and S Korea's governments have obviously invested a lot of money on infrastructure.

Personally where I am living (Kyoto) I can stream live High Definition Video on my connection for $20/month. I hope the UK begins to catch up before I move back there.

 

[Sehnsucht]

The US's excuse is that our evil, greedy ISPs are allowed to fleece us for money. Verizon's FiOS service is one slight exception but even then I'm sure there's a way for that to get f***ed up too.

 

[kdum8]

The US's excuse is that our evil, greedy ISPs are allowed to fleece us for money. Verizon's FiOS service is one slight exception but even then I'm sure there's a way for that to get f***ed up too.

Slight rant follows. Feel free to skip.
It amuses me when people say that America is "the greatest country on earth". Sure, there are some things to admire without doubt, but in many areas the US is way behind. Health Care, homicide & crime rates/capita, railway infrastructure, highest number of people in jail per capita of any developed country etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I like the US. But complacency is the surest way to failure.

I guess the net speeds will gradually improve. A little too slowly for me though,

 

[Keniff]

Wow, I'm surprised to see the UK just slightly faster than the US.
Whenever I've used the net while in the US, it always seems a lot faster than the UK.

Interesting link, some good videos on that link.



EDIT:
Somebody just informed me that most of the US can't have underground cable.
It was fairly easy to lay a load of pipe in the UK, which bumps up the average speed a lot.

 

[0098386]

And later this year 40-50mbps connections are being rolled out by BT, that should bump us up a little (still chuffed that my towns on the list ). But seriously, to say we're only a small island where opposing coasts can be reached within a couple of hours driving we do have sucky internet.

 

[Fizzoid]

We've been beaten by Iceland!
(no offence to anyone from Iceland btw)

 

[yg17]

EDIT:
Somebody just informed me that most of the US can't have underground cable.
It was fairly easy to lay a load of pipe in the UK, which bumps up the average speed a lot.

That's not true. There's underground cable and fiber all over the place.

 

[Keniff]

Yeah true, but not everywhere...

And later this year 40-50mbps connections are being rolled out by BT, that should bump us up a little (still chuffed that my towns on the list ). But seriously, to say we're only a small island where opposing coasts can be reached within a couple of hours driving we do have sucky internet.

My uncle works for British Telecom, he said they've been using 1tbps for about
10 years now!
How do you think credit card payments get done so quickly (in restaurants and shops, etc)?

So the technology is and has been available for years, but like anything, they just milk it to the consumer a little at a time, so they can warrant the extra charges that they're are going to hit us for...

 

[Fizzoid]

How do you think credit card payments get done so quickly (in restaurants and shops, etc)?

By sending small amounts of data. Trust me, many retailer's networks aren't up to much, and smaller shops still use dial-up

 

[Queso]

The USA being the size it is doesn't work as an excuse when you see how much faster Australia is. Oz is a comparative size but much more sparsely populated.

The thing holding back the UK is our late adoption of local loop unbundling. In France LLU started years earlier. As a result ADSL2+ rollout is long completed, compared to the UK where it is still limited to cities.

 

[sammich]

The USA being the size it is doesn't work as an excuse when you see how much faster Australia is. Oz is a comparative size but much more sparsely populated.

Australia is sparely populated, outside of the cities. About 93% of all people live in places of 1000ppl or more, so it's very easy for access to higher speed broadband to be laid out. Whats more, is that (apparently) our main Telco, Telstra, has 10.8mbps wireless broadband, so that covers a lot of bases too. When you see advertising saying that coverage is 99% of all Australia, they mean 99% of all Australians.

That said, about 99% of all Australians will have access to 100mbps FTTP soon

 

[yg17]

Yeah true, but not everywhere...





My uncle works for British Telecom, he said they've been using 1tbps for about
10 years now!
How do you think credit card payments get done so quickly (in restaurants and shops, etc)?

So the technology is and has been available for years, but like anything, they just milk it to the consumer a little at a time, so they can warrant the extra charges that they're are going to hit us for...

It's not 1tbps to the customer's premesis. The 1tb links are a part of the ISP's backbone network to carry internet traffic for thousands of people. No one is getting 1tb to their home anytime soon.

 

[northy124]

OMG Australia is better than the UK that is weird, why do so many people dis' it then? and South Korea are better than us

@raggedjimmi, how did you find out your town was on the list for 40 - 50 mbps? I have been looking at the BT site and haven't seen any info on the upgrade at all

 

[magamo]

South Korea are better than us

South Korea isn't big and almost half of its population live in the Seoul metropolitan area. Besides, they're as enthusiastic as the Japanese when it comes to the internet and stuff. So I wouldn't be surprised if South Korea becomes the fastest country in the near future.

Obviously Japan is way ahead, and some ISPs are offering 1Gbps for home users. But that's going too far, I think.

By the way, a 75 year old woman has the world's fastest boradband.

 

[Fizzoid]

Obviously Japan is way ahead, and some ISPs are offering 1Gbps for home users. But that's going too far, I think.

Not really, HDTV will be delivered to your TV that way in a few years time

 

[Queso]

Not really, HDTV will be delivered to your TV that way in a few years time

HD IPTV only requires something like 2.5Mbps bandwidth, and with further H.264 optimisation this should fall below 2Mbps within a couple of years.

 

[Fizzoid]

Ah, but you're thinking about current HDTV technology, not the next generation

 

[magamo]

Not really, HDTV will be delivered to your TV that way in a few years time

My 100Mbps internet connection is handling HDTV streaming pretty well though? I can watch HDTV, torrent, and browse MacRumors while my brother is playing MMORPG sitting next to me. When I heard the news about 1Gbps for home users 4 years ago, I thought it was crazy...

EDIT: I was talking about the current HDTV. Maybe more demanding technology is coming soon?

 

[sushi]

Internet wise, living in Japan sux!

I know it's tough, but someone has to live here.

Seems like other places in the world are starting to show improvement which is good to see. One reason that Japan has good Internet service is the majority of the people live in small condensed area.

To put it in perspective. The livable land mass in Japan is about half the size of Nebraska. Japan has around 120 million people living in that space.

 

[Fizzoid]

EDIT: I was talking about the current HDTV. Maybe more demanding technology is coming soon?

There's already Ultra HDTV and some others that companies are working on which has around a 16x better resolution (and that was back in 2007). Of course, we're not gong to see TVs with that capability for a few years yet, but it is happening and it's always an advantage to have the infrastructure already there to support it.
Of course, it's not just limited to TV that they'll also put down the pipe

 

[peskaa]

And later this year 40-50mbps connections are being rolled out by BT, that should bump us up a little

Rubbish. BT's 21CN (21st Century Network) project is simply going to give ADSL2+ technology nationwide (ie: 24Mbit), something that BeThere already provide in exchanges they are present in with their own DSLAMs. BT are going to start trialling FTTH/N sometime in 2010, but even if they decide to roll it out nationwide it is going to take years. Virgin Media's network offers a glimpse of what is possible, but is crippled by traffic shaping and high prices for even a 50Mbit connection.

The UK's internet future, in fact the future anywhere, lies with FTTH - but it is expensive to implement, requiring government funding. Japan already uses FTTH and FTTN (FTTN provides their VDSL services for 50Mbit connections), which is why they're leaders in the broadband field. Thing is, Japan took the decision to replace the entire network (bombing in WWII removed big chunks of the old one), which has paid dividends. The UK is stuck with old, and rapidly degrading, twisted copper.

My uncle works for British Telecom, he said they've been using 1tbps for about
10 years now!
How do you think credit card payments get done so quickly (in restaurants and shops, etc)?

Does your uncle like talking out his rear end? The UK network uses "fat pipes" to provide the core connections (ie: out of the UK to the rest of the world, and key backbones), but even then they're not 1Tbit in speed. The overall bandwidth may be high, but this is done by multiple "pipes" rather than a single fast one. I spent a while working for Orange on the IP Network Design Team back in the early 2000s, and their connection to the UK backbone was via ATM 25Gbit lines, providing the entirety of internet access for their mobile phone (3G) network which was just being set up by us in Bristol. In 2000, BT and Cisco joined to move the UK to a 250Gbit backbone (Colossus), which is still what we use today. So a quarter of 1Tbit in fact.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/equip2.htm

As for credit cards? The amount of data sent is tiny. Most terminals are connected via ISDN or even dialup, and there's a rise in terminals running off mobile phone networks too. Even a store like Tesco/Sainsburys wouldn't be able to saturate even a mediocre ADSL connection with card transactions.

 

[magamo]

There's already Ultra HDTV and some others that companies are working on which has around a 16x better resolution (and that was back in 2007). Of course, we're not gong to see TVs with that capability for a few years yet, but it is happening and it's always an advantage to have the infrastructure already there to support it.
Of course, it's not just limited to TV that they'll also put down the pipe

Hmm. The popular 100Mbps broadband connection in Japan may not be enough for 16x2Mbps = 32Mbps HDTV, considering other stuff you download/upload simultaneously. But I still think 1Gbps is kind of over the top. Besides, the 1Gbps service started back in 2005...

Anyway, I agree the infrastructure should come first.

 

[Fizzoid]

Besides, the 1Gbps service started back in 2005...

Think yourself lucky, back in 2005 if you had 8mb here in the UK (and I don't mean the advertised up to 8mb) you were in a VERY exclusive club. Infact, even living in London I still now only get 6.2Mb with ADSL2

 

[Teh Don Ditty]

South Korea isn't big and almost half of its population live in the Seoul metropolitan area. Besides, they're as enthusiastic as the Japanese when it comes to the internet and stuff. So I wouldn't be surprised if South Korea becomes the fastest country in the near future.

Obviously Japan is way ahead, and some ISPs are offering 1Gbps for home users. But that's going too far, I think.

By the way, a 75 year old woman has the world's fastest boradband.

How is having 1Gbps going too far? One can never have enough bandwidth.

 

[magamo]

Think yourself lucky, back in 2005 if you had 8mb here in the UK (and I don't mean the advertised up to 8mb) you were in a VERY exclusive club. Infact, even living in London I still now only get 6.2Mb with ADSL2

Ah, so UK's figure in the article OP linked to also apples to major cities like London. I thought the internet was much faster in cities like London than the average shown in the graph.

How is having 1Gbps going too far? One can never have enough bandwidth.

I couldn't think of how your average internet user could run out of bandwidth if they have, say, 200Mbps. I understand a few Gbps may not be enough if it was for small business owners or something. Like I said, I was talking about the current technology for home users and the service started in 2005.