Posted on 08/29/2009 9:34:46 AM PDT by libh8er
A report on Internet speed in the United States says the country isn’t likely to catch world leader South Korea for 15 years.
Or for much longer — at current growth rates, the United States will only reach South Korea’s speed today in 15 years.
The report, by the Communications Workers of America, details Internet download and upload speeds all over the United States and some of its affiliated territories. In the last year, the average upload speed in the United States “barely changed,” the report said, and download speed only grew a little, from 4.2 megabits per second in 2008 to 5.1 megabits per second in 2009.
In South Korea, average download speed is four times faster — 20.4 megabits per second. The United States also lags Japan (15.8 mbps), Sweden (12.8 mbps), the Netherlands (11 mbps) and 24 other countries.
At average U.S. speed it takes about 35 minutes to download 100 family vacation photos, and four hours to upload them.
The report said U.S. speeds aren’t sufficient for the needs of in-home medical monitoring, distance learning programs, or to run a modern business from home.
“People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours” at the average U.S. speed, the report said.
California improved its position to No. 11 in download speed among U.S. states and territories in 2009. Last year it ranked No. 22.
Locally, the fastest download speed in San Francisco County was in Zip code 94131, at 14.7 mbps, though that area had slower upload speed than some other bits of the county.
Several Alameda County Zip codes rivalled that speed, and San Leandro’s 94579 area blew them out of the water at a download speed of 60.6 mbps.
The report calls for more investment in the nation’s Internet infrastructure. It also suggests shifting the outdated universal service payments that support voice telephone service over to pay for better and cheaper high-speed Internet service for everyone.
LOL, you funny AIT, I have always liked you.
I’m looking at your Internet speed from here in New Zealand and I’m jealous!
Everything with our telephone systems have gone to Hell ever since they privatized NZ Telecom.
I'll keep my day job, though!
south korea’s popluation is 49 million.
japan’s population is 128 million.
taking the phone companies away from your socialist government and putting them into the free market has been great for your system just like conservativs said it would be.
there have been articles here about the success, dont lie.
South Korea = 1/2 the size of Utah. But SK does have pretty mountains.
Call ATT and mention any of these and they will sell you a symmetric DSL rather than the less expensive ADSL. Cable and fiber have the same sort of tiered service. It's not simply a matter of speed, but of priority and throughput, to handle 2-way video.
The scale of internet infrastructure in the US is simply huge in camparison to S.Korea, with a much more diverse population to server, and a much more diverse local geography, weather, etc. It just simply is a more complex problem here.
> taking the phone companies away from your socialist government and putting them into the free market has been great for your system just like conservativs said it would be.
In fact, it has been an unmitigated disaster from nearly any objective viewpoint. From start-to-finish privatization was a panty-raid on our Nation’s wealth.
Instead of investing in much-needed infrastructure the company focused instead on producing ridiculously hi returns-on-investment to its overseas shareholders.
It has also misused its near-monopoly status to damage its competitors and keep prices hi. Similar stunts in the United States or Canada would run afoul of anti-competitive laws.
The exact same situation prevails with our now-privatized electricity sector: hi prices and plenty of blackouts, and an infrastructure that has been under-invested in. And ridiculously-hi returns-on-investment to overseas shareholders.
> there have been articles here about the success, dont lie.
Educate yourself before calling me a liar, bud.
Privatizing New Zealand’s government-held assets was one of the stupidest things done by any liberal government in any country on this planet at any time in history. And we will be paying for Rogernomics for many generations to come.
0h n035, I can’t download an entire hardrive worth of information onto my laptop in 125 seconds, what am I going to do, the end of the world has arrived. At the present time, a 10% increase in speed would be nice, and for the next 5-6 years maybe 50-60%, but unless there is a major increase in the size of files I need to download, I will pass on a 1Gb/s internet connection.
I bet the US is not #15 in terms of internet investment, cost, and traffic.
Pick a metropolitan geographical area the same size as Korea and then do the comparison.
**But SK does have pretty mountains**
and it has even Prettier WOMEN..
OK, I’m a PIG ... sue me
I’m in Japan and I get 30+Mb/sec ... for about $49/month...
I am thinking that the prices are probably still a little to steep for the average household back in the states to be able to afford. It was ridiculous when I left 11 years ago.
It doesn't.
Don’t worry, when the Senate passes their internet bill we won’t have any internet at all, let alone fast downloads.
The comparison is not well founded. South Korea is a compact and densely settled country. Internet infrastructure costs per capita are therefore less than in the US, which is not as densely populated. The more accurate comparison is to major urban areas of the US, which have more developed internet infrastructure and higher download speeds available for those who want to pay for it.
LOL
True, but always thought the girls in Japan were the cutest.
BUt, they all are NOT California Girls... or something song like
**BUt, they all are NOT California Girls... or something song like**
You DROP a California girl, they won’t stop Bouncing til they hit SKorea
Like I said .. I’m a PIG
Hell, let’s all move to Korea with our laptops, and eat dog!
you are probably being paid by soros to post this here.
we are not falling for you socialists, who want government to own companies. this is called facism.
you need to be educated probably. new mexico is a bad state, went obama for a reason, no wonder your phones dont work.
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