400Mbps FiOS Trials > A step in the right direction

reply to Bellunder

Re: A step in the right direction

You say "countries" as if residents there are universally seeing 100Mb service. They aren't. Just like here, a tiny minority in dense cities get that kind of service.

There are providers here doing 20, 30, 50 and 100Mb residential service.

And it's even less true that we're in an HDTV ghetto. We get more HDTV than anyone. In my area I get close to 50 DTV channels OTA and our subscription providers like D* offer dozens and dozens of pay DTV and HDTV channels.

In every country you can find a town, village or hut that has 100Mb service and another that is lucky to get 14kbps service.

And even if what you say is true, and everyone else on earth is at 100Mb and we're at 30Mb, it isn't going to make a damn bit of difference.

The difference is in other countries it's already the norm whereas in America it's upscale meaning much higher priced.

It's not the norm, not by a long shot. Average reported speeds coming from Japan are barely over 10Mb according to Speedtest.net. Our larger cable operators offer speeds much faster than that.

Not buying that...

Japan and Taiwan, hell, even China sees speeds much faster then that "average". I agree with the content issue. You can not negate the fact that braodband in the US is still seen as a luxury, but when internet content starts catering to those countries in which broadband has already been seen as a right a loong time ago, the US will be in a bad spot, playing catch up.

A few see faster speeds. But a lot of people here see speeds faster than that average.

My point is, not everyone in Japan gets 100Mb fiber just like not everyone in the US gets 50Mb FiOS.

Broadband in the US is absolutely a luxury. You don't go from non-existance to necessity in 11 years. In the US we have tons of sources of information and entertainment which may not be the case in some of these countries where the State controls the media (eg NHK, BBC etc). We also don't have an IPTV driven entertainment system. There is simply no demand for 100Mb non-video residential service. If that were the case there would be no one buying the 7Mb Time Warner plans. Everyone would be buying "extreme" tiers.

Us not having universal 100Mb residential fiber is putting us in a bad spot is a myth. The economy isn't residential fiber driven.

Anyone who thinks that 100Mb residential broadband is a necessity that will bring the End of Days if not deployed is dellusional. Residential 100Mb speeds is not the norm anywhere on earth, not in Japan, Taiwan or China.

reply to OB Kenobi

reply to OB Kenobi