Why is the internet speed in Japan, S Korea and Europe much faster than here?

[RoughCollie]

Does anyone know?

[Mom in High Heels]

I live in Europe and I don't know that it's any faster. I mean technically, it may be faster, but it doesn't seem like it is.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Mom in High Heels

[stripe]

I think it's because the government (in Korea/Japan/Europe) tells internet companies to do something, and they do it. In the US, they sue and refuse. There is not much competition in the US with regard to access to DSL, either -- it's really only one company.

 

Some interesting stories:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120652957

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124635570

[Heather in AL]

I think it's because the government (in Korea/Japan/Europe) tells internet companies to do something, and they do it. In the US, they sue and refuse. There is not much competition in the US with regard to access to DSL, either -- it's really only one company.

 

Some interesting stories:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120652957

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124635570

 

:iagree: I don't remember the details, but there was an article or three on this not so long ago. You might find info if you do an internet search. I haven't seen the ones Stripe linked, so I'm off to read those. Basically it came down to money/greedy companies. Nice, eh?

[RoughCollie]

I told DS1 that it likely came down to a combination of greedy companies and government regulations, because it makes sense to me that otherwise competition would spring up to offer higher connection speeds.

 

I wanted to check with you all to be sure I was correct. I figured someone here would know.

 

I researched this a year or two ago, and at that time, France's connection speeds were 19x faster than ours, and Japan's and S. Korea's were much faster than that.

 

Thank you for your responses.

 

RC

[LNC]

A techie at our church said it was bc the US uses outdated coaxil (sp??)cables instead of broadband cables. Something like that - anyone know?

[G5052]

The Internet backbone (i.e. high bandwidth, "highway" portions) is owned by multiple companies and is largely concentrated around metropolitan areas. This of course happened because Internet began as a government project here and then has been almost entirely commercial since the 1990's, so it's grown/updated/regulated in a rather uneven manner. Companies or individuals who have the $$$ to buy the bandwidth do have faster connection speeds than the ordinary person. I know some superstars in the software/e-commerce world who work from home and buy that type of access for themselves, but most of us couldn't afford it and it's not available everywhere.

 

I can't imagine that there will be a coordinated government effort here to standardize any time soon, so there we are. Europe and Asia have the advantage of being able to build from the ground up with greater government involvement. Not that I'm planning to move though...

[dm379]

I live in Korea and there's only one, maybe 2 max, internet companies for the country. So there's no competition here either. The technology is much more advanced here in general than it is in the states. My old boss told me it is because the country is so small the only thing they can export is their technology.

[Heather in Neverland]

Well in Malaysia it moves like m o l a s s e s..... I miss U.S. internet speed every day. :glare: