Japan surpassing USA in broadband

[lvzardoz]

It looks like the USA is letting Japan surpass us in another technology area that could be critical to our economic future: broadband deployment.

Here's an excerpt from a Lindows (Michael Robertson) email:


In 2000, broadband in Japan was virtually nonexistent - it was all archaic dial-up Net access. I couldn't have imagined a more dramatic change than what I witnessed a few days ago. High-speed 10MB DSL Internet service is widely available for as little as $20 a month, which is roughly half the price and many times faster than the 1.5MB Optical fiber that is commonplace in homes in the United States. ISPs in Japan deliver mind-blowing 100MB business service for just $40 a month. Tokyo computer stores sign up customers for broadband access like US stores do for cellular service. Demo plasma TVs in the showroom stream full-screen video over the Internet while you do the paperwork. There are now more broadband homes in Japan than in the US.

[Vin DSL]

Originally posted by lvzardoz

...Here's an excerpt from a Lindows (Michael Robertson) email...

LoL! I get it. Very good!

Ever hear the one about the Japanese guy that went to the optometrist? The doctor asked him if he'd ever had cataracts. The Japanese guy answered, "No, I always owned Rincolns."

[lvzardoz]

Sorry, Vin, no humor intended here. Lindows is a Linux-based alternative to Windows started by Michael Robertson, former owner of MP3.com

[Vin DSL]

Where did you get this stuff? Sounds like a joke to me. Most of the 'houses' in Japan don't even have toilets. They crap in a hole in the floor and wipe their butts with their bare fingers.

EDIT: I know you don't believe a word I say, so here's my proof:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2003.html

http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/Hiroshima/Things/90.html

You want us to believe they all have plasma TV's and 100MB Internet connections? Please!!!

[lvzardoz]

While the hole-in-the-floor toilet is common in most of asia, I have yet to see a home not using toilet paper during my travels to Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Even in China, western toilets are common in large cities although perhaps still not in the majority of homes. They were standard in every apartment in my wife's condominium in Zhuhai, China.

Broadband usage per capita has actually dropped in the United States due to recent economic problems. I am developing a web site to access broadband video feeds (mostly news) from around the world. The highest originating quality broadband video feeds (those exceeding 400MBit/second) are not typically in the USA or the UK, but primarily come from Japan, China, Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and even one in Estonia.

If there are few users able to receive those feeds in those countries, why would they bother with such expensive net broadcasts?

The broadband userbase in the USA is still rather small because the cost difference compared to dialup. If prices for broadband are really that cheap in Japan, it would be a no-brainer to chose $20 per month BB over $15 per month dialup, dontchathink?

[Vin DSL]

Given the choice of eating fish heads and rice, and crapping in a hole, or putting up with slow DSL, I think I'll stick with Qwest, thank you!

[lvzardoz]

Originally posted by Vin DSL
Given the choice of eating fish heads and rice ...

Vin, you're wandering further and further off topic. I do wonder why you would throw in food choices, however. For all its many other advantages and superiority, the American over-processed, over-salted, over-portioned diet is certainly not to be recommended to any nation.

I can assure you that the average middle-class asian diet is far more healthy and tasty than the American one. The various delightful seafood and other well prepared meals I had in the southern coastal city of Zhuhai were far superior to anything I have eaten in the USA at about 1/10th the cost.

I would suggest that the American diet is the main reason, according to the CIA world fact book, that the average life expectancy in the USA is 33rd among nations in the world, well behind Japan and even behind much poorer nations.

Please note #2 Macau which is the Chinese-populated city (now part of China) bordering Zhuhai.

Life expectancy at birth - total population (All Descending)

Rank Country Value / Unit
1. Andorra 83.47 years
2. Macau 81.69 years
3. San Marino 81.23 years
4. Japan 80.80 years
5. Singapore 80.17 years
6. Australia 79.87 years
7. Switzerland 79.73 years
8. Sweden 79.71 years
9. Hong Kong 79.67 years
10. Canada 79.56 years
11. Iceland 79.52 years
12. Italy 79.14 years
13. Cayman Islands 79.03 years
14. Monaco 78.98 years
15. Liechtenstein 78.95 years
16. Spain 78.93 years
17. France 78.90 years
18. Norway 78.79 years
19. Israel 78.71 years
20. Greece 78.59 years
21. Aruba 78.52 years
22. Netherlands 78.43 years
23. Virgin Islands 78.27 years
24. Malta 78.10 years
25. New Zealand 77.99 years
26. Belgium 77.96 years
27. Austria 77.84 years
28. United Kingdom 77.82 years
29. Germany 77.61 years
30. Finland 77.58 years
31. Jordan 77.53 years
32. Luxembourg 77.30 years
33. United States 77.26 years

[mattsiegman]

enough... locked