US broadband speeds 15 years behind South Korea

[renegade08]

-{ Quote: "By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco
26th August 2009

You can't escape ads on US TV each day from Comcast, AT&T, Sprint or some other provider crowing about how they are making their networks faster for TV, internet and phone.

Fast is relative, though, and it seems broadband is only inching forward in the US, with the country calculated to be 15 years behind speed leader South Korea.

The average US speed is 5.1Mbps, compared with 20.4Mbps in South Korea, the report concluded.

The CWA's 2009 Speed Matters Speed Test found just 20 per cent of US internet users enjoy speeds on a par with the world's top three fastest web surfing nations - South Korea, Japan and Sweden." }-

Story (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/26/us_15_years_behind_south_korea/)

[dw426]

-{ Quote: "Story (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/26/us_15_years_behind_south_korea/)" }-

I've experienced this first-hand, among plenty of other technological advances many parts of the world have over us. As far as military technology, we're still ahead (but no longer a huge leap ahead, that time period passed in the late 1990s), but in the civilian world of technology and science, we are woefully behind and it's quite likely that if we even attempt to catch up with the likes of Japan and South Korea, it will take more than 15 years.

[1boss1]

-{ Quote: "That's according to research from the Communications Workers of America, which said internet speed in the US increased by just 1.6Mbps between 2007 and 2009." }-

Good old Australia's average only increased that much in the last 20 years. Having an average speed of 20.4Mbps like Korea would be insane, i couldn't even imagine browsing, watching video and downloading with pipes that big.

I still remember the days of dialing up at 300baud on the C64, and leaving the transfer of a 225kb game to run overnight.

It's a shame though, there seems to be no incentive for telco's to invest in infrastructure when they can cap speeds, overload the exchanges and charge a mint.

[ASM]

-{ Quote: "I've experienced this first-hand, among plenty of other technological advances many parts of the world have over us. As far as military technology, we're still ahead (but no longer a huge leap ahead, that time period passed in the late 1990s), but in the civilian world of technology and science, we are woefully behind and it's quite likely that if we even attempt to catch up with the likes of Japan and South Korea, it will take more than 15 years." }- True enough... and we are into Fiber-optic in coming years. But the pricing is :(

[Sully]

I talked to a guy in Portland last week who has a 20m up and down pipe I think from Verizon. 20m up, I mean that is a lot of pipe. I can only dream of such a pipe. 8-12m down seems to be average now from what I have seen, although that is cable. DSL still seems to ride a lot of 3-6m pipes, or less.

Sul.

[The_1337]

I went from 1 Mb to 5 Mb earlier this year which was amazing, so I'm content with what I have right now. 20 Mb just sounds insane right now.

[renegade08]

-{ Quote: " 20 Mb just sounds insane right now." }-
Yes, it does seems insane to most of us.

[renegade08]

Speed Matters Publications

http://www.speedmatters.org/content/resources/


2009 Report on Internet Speeds in All 50 States (http://files.cwa-union.org/speedmatters/state_reports_2009/CWA_Report_on_Internet_Speeds_2009.pdf?nocdn=1)

-{ Quote: "Speed Matters New Broadband Study: US Still Lags Behind

08.24.09

Posted By: Speedmatters Blog Team

The data also confirms that where a customer lives is a good indicator of Internet connection speed. With some exceptions, if you live in a Northeastern or Mid-Atlantic state, you are likely to have good high-speed Internet options.

Fastest Internet Connections
Delaware (9.9 mbps)
Rhode Island (9.8 mbps)
New Jersey (8.9 mbps)
Massachusetts (8.6 mbps)
New York (8.4 mbps)

Slowest Internet Connections
Mississippi (3.7 mbps)
South Carolina (3.6 mbps)
Arkansas (3.1 mbps)
Idaho (2.6 mbps)
Alaska (2.3 mbps) " }-

Story (http://www.speedmatters.org/blog/archive/speed-matters-new-broadband-study-us-still-lags-behind/)

[Toby75]

-{ Quote: "I talked to a guy in Portland last week who has a 20m up and down pipe I think from Verizon. 20m up, I mean that is a lot of pipe. I can only dream of such a pipe. 8-12m down seems to be average now from what I have seen, although that is cable. DSL still seems to ride a lot of 3-6m pipes, or less.

Sul." }-

Yep..that's FiOS:
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/FiOSInternet/FiOSvsCable/FiOSvsCable.htm