The NYT Compares Broadband Upgrade Costs in US, Japan 257
zxjio writes with this excerpt from a New York Times article about just how much networking infrastructure costs vary between the US and Japan: "Pretty much the fastest consumer broadband in the world is the 160-megabit-per-second service offered by J:Com, the largest cable company in Japan. Here's how much the company had to invest to upgrade its network to provide that speed: $20 per home passed. ... Verizon is spending an average of $817 per home passed to wire neighborhoods for its FiOS fiber optic network and another $716 for equipment and labor in each home that subscribes, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Company. ... The experience in Japan suggests that the major cable systems in the United States might be able to increase the speed of their broadband service by five to 10 times right away. They might not need to charge much more for it than they do now and they would still make as much money."
Re:High density = no digging (Score:5, Informative)
This has nothing to do with digging up the roads, the article talks about the US basing their high speed lines around FiOS installs, where as Japan are simply upgrading their cable lines to use DOCSIS 3 instead of 1.
In the UK atm, the main (pretty much only) cable provider is doing the same, they are upgrading half of their network to run off DOCSIS 3 and are offering 50Mbit, but leaving the rest of the network still on DOCSIS 1 that'll run speeds of less than 20Mbit.
All it takes is for the ISP to replace the hardware in their buildings and send the customer a new cable modem that supports version 3.
Literally, no spade is involved at all in the process.
Japan Broadband = Dense population (Score:5, Informative)
Re:High density = no digging (Score:1, Informative)
I bought a modem off eBay for my mom a few years ago after I moved out. It seemed fairly recent, not as new as mine but it worked.
I got a call about 3-4 weeks ago from her. Cox Cable upgraded the modem for free to the latest model, I assume the old one didn't support DOCSIS 3. That was pretty nice of them.
Re:High density = no digging (Score:4, Informative)
What the article is saying is that you don't need fiber to the curb for the cable companies to get 100mbps service to the home. What Japan and other countries are doing is using the existing cabling with newer hardware. Verizon is running all new lines to their FIOS neighborhoods so of course its more expensive, its like comparing riding the bus to school and digging your own trench.
Additionally, I would prefer to trench through yards compared to running wiring in an older giant apartment complex that wasn't designed for rerunning cable throughout.
Journalism meets Technology ... (Score:2, Informative)
J:Com's costs were substantially reduced because they rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 on their existing copper infrastructure.
Verizon is laying new infrastructure in the form of fiber-optic cable.
Ah the New York Times, where Journalism meets Technology like a retard smacking his head into a brick wall.
Re:Things to remember (Score:5, Informative)
Fastest in the world? (Score:4, Informative)
I question that. Here in Sweden I know of at least one company (bredband2) connecting private consumers at 1 gbit.
Re:High density = no digging (Score:5, Informative)
Re:High density = no digging (Score:2, Informative)
I've got EuroDocsis 3.0 with 110 Mbits. A Helsinki based cable operator is selling the service for less than 60 euros.
Re:Japan Broadband = Dense population (Score:5, Informative)
Here's a hint from rural Japan. A small town in Hokkaido to be specific, which is pretty much the middle of nowhere. Population of 12,000 in an area a little under half of Tokyo "City" (23 wards). More specifically, a population density of 51.5 persons / sq. km versus Tokyo's 14,064 persons / sq. km. That's a 1:273 ratio. We don't have fiber, yet. They're installing it right now. We do have 54Mbps ADSL though, and have had it for some time. We also have 3G cell phone reception not only town wide, but in the mountains as well. The mountain range is the size of Kanagawa Prefecture, by the way, but as long as you're not in the shadow of a huge ridge, you'll get your mail.
What I'm saying is that it's a fallacy that Japan has high-tech only because of the population density. If that were true, only Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya would have these high-speed networks. Even Sapporo is way too spread out to compare. Yet the only areas that I know of that don't have high-speed internet that exceeds what is available in most homes in large U.S. cities, are the extremely remote villages way up in the mountains, which are even more remote than where we live.
I believe the fact that 97% of the population is covered with high-speed internet right now in Japan says something to that extent (even though that figure is a bit optimistic). Less than 20% of the Japanese population live in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
Re:Crazy (Score:2, Informative)
I live in Denmark and I have a 25 / 25 MB fiber connection with true unlimited bandwidth usage, no port restriction and static IP address for USD 45 per month. I paid 200 USD in a onetime fee for equipments and installation.
I have the option to upgrade to a 100 / 100 MB connection for 180 USD per month.
Sweden (our next door neighbor) is a lot cheaper.
If it cost Verizon 1500 USD per customer they are doing something very wrong.
Re:High density = no digging (Score:5, Informative)
A state-protected oligo-/monopoly is hardly capitalism, let alone Hyper-Capitalism.
Having The State and The Authorities protect a certain market sector from the activities of all but one trusted supplier is called Feudalism. Has been for centuries.
The King giveth and the King taketh away a limited monopoly to one corporation which in turn pays a large recurring premium for this right. The East-India corporation springs to mind, but the Italians and the French had similar models, back in the 17th century.
Quote Wikipedia on this: "Every man was the vassal, or servant, of his lord. The man swore fealty to his lord, and in return the lord promised to protect him and to see that he received justice."
Re:High density = no digging (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Japan Broadband = Dense population (Score:3, Informative)
Mod parent up. He's right- I live in Sapporo, and I know what the countryside here in Hokkaido is like.
Japan doesn't have high access simply because of pop. density- Sapporo has poor service at the edge, but blazing fast speeds in the middle- that's ADSL, the majority of what's available here. My 50mb ASDL connection is shit here- always dropping.
My old 8mb ASDL in the middle of Sapporo had much better service.
Fiber internet like FiOS is still taking off here.
Re:Fastest in the world? (Score:3, Informative)
Americans don't know what a free market is. (Score:4, Informative)
Having spent time in Asia I've come to find that Americans wouldn't recognize a free market if it bit them on the ass. And yet they rant and rant that capitalism is screwing us. No, improper regulation is. All this regulation has stifled competition and made it exceedingly difficult for anyone new to enter the market and be competitive.
These issues could be easily addressed, but with the government heading towards even more regulation things are only going to get worse.
"The US" is not upgrading anything.... (Score:4, Informative)
Rather, Verizon is rolling out FiOS, because it has no other option. VDSL technology over old twisted-pair phone line has peaked, it has no choice but to roll out FiOS if it wants to keep up with cable.
Your comparison (and the articles) is therefore very foolish. The real question I have is why Comcast is not rolling out DOCSIS 3 - wait, actually I don't have that question, because they are already [cedmagazine.com].
Man I hate misinformed articles and postings... I am not even an American and I know about this.
Re:Crazy (Score:3, Informative)
Sure, but in Australia approximately half the population is centered in 2 cities: Sydney and Melbourne. Why isn't there decent service in those two locations?
Re:High density = no digging (Score:3, Informative)
Running lines and installing equipment has got to be easier in a much higher density area like Japan.
I seriously doubt population density has anything to do with the US lagging other countries in broadband. From The State of Broadband Internet Access [davescomputertips.com] "Clearly Iceland, Finland, and Canada have low population densities, but better access to broadband than countries such as the United States - Birthplace of the Internet, Australia, Japan, etc."
Also see this post [slashdot.org] of mine about how after being asked to install broadband in a city in Minnesota and refusing to do so a cable company tried to sue the city for doing it itself.
Falcon
Re:High density = no digging (Score:3, Informative)
You know, a state-protected oligopoly is hardly "hyper-capitalism".
Of course it is. Capitalism is an ownership model, not a market model.
Read Adam Smith's, the father of capitalism, "The Wealth of Nations [amazon.com]" sometime. Capitalism is both an ownership and a market model. It calls for voluntary exchanges between people, which is what a free market is.
Falcon