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Networking The Internet

Israel To Get Massive Countrywide Optical Upgrade 157

Posted by timothy from the just-in-time-for-the-censorship dept.
A Google Fiberhood-style rollout in the U.S., says a Goldman-Sachs estimate, would cost in the neighborhood of $140 billion. Even for Israel, a country approximately the size of New Jersey, there's a high pricetag ("billions of shekels") for installing fiber optics dense enough to reach most of the population, but just a massive fiber-optic rollout is planned, with the project led by Swedish firm Viaeuropa. If the scheme succeeds, it will cover two thirds of the country over the next 10 years or so.
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Israel To Get Massive Countrywide Optical Upgrade More

Israel To Get Massive Countrywide Optical Upgrade

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  • New glasses (Score:5, Funny)

    by Intropy ( 2009018 ) on Thursday December 27, 2012 @02:59PM (#42405457)

    Anyone else read the headline and think everyone was getting new prescription eyeglasses?

    • Anyone else read the headline and think everyone was getting new prescription eyeglasses?

      Or perhaps their houses' fronts were getting a new paint, countrywide. Or a new spy satellite for Mossad is going to be deployed. The possibilities are endless!

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Oh please! Stop comparing Romania and other relatively small states against the US. Pull up a map of the world and compare the size of Europe against the size of the US. And yes China and Russia are similar in size to the continental US but the Gobi desert in China and large areas of northern Russia are not exactly loaded with people needing an Internet connection. The government and businesses have already sunk a shitload of money into the existing system. An existing system that has, for better or worse,

        • Yes, we are bigger than Romania. We also have more money than they, per capita, and more people. Your point is puzzling; we aren't trying to do the same with the same amount of money. Resources scale with population and wealth. If what you said somehow made sense, we'd have no highways or electrical power outside of the cities.

          You did't address the fact that the ISPs and telcos were given tens of billions in tax breaks in the last fifteen years to build the networks they now say they cannot afford to build.

        • I wish I could throw a turd at your comment.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Uberbah ( 647458 )

          Oh please! Stop comparing Romania and other relatively small states against the US. Pull up a map of the world and compare the size of Europe against the size of the US.

          Please, leave off the "but Amurica is ruuural" argument that was weak sauce a decade ago. It doesn't explain why Norway has better access with a lower population density than the United States. It might explain why you get shitty access in Jerkwater, Wyoming, but then how do you explain the shitty access in New York City and San Francisco

      • You think Israel is actually going to get this fiber system built on-time, in-budget, and to-capacity?

        You don't know shit about this country if you actually believe that, but we'll get it eventually.

  • Uruguay Fiber Optic Plan (Score:5, Interesting)

    by fyi101 ( 2715891 ) on Thursday December 27, 2012 @03:02PM (#42405485)
    Here in Uruguay we are rolling out fiber optics for the entire country (3.5 million people approx.), with about 240,000 connections by now, and connections for all populated centers of 3500 homes and above by 2015. Price tag is about U$S 550 million. I think the plan is to replace the entire copper infrastructure in a few years. Each country is different, but in principle it's doable... (Of course we have the advantage of a state monopoly on wired telecommunications. Yes, I do mean advantage.) See http://www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/236698/fibra-optica-un-plan-estrategico-de-us-550-millones/ [elobservador.com.uy] use Google Translate for the Spanish-impaired.

    • During the "stimulus" think a couple of years ago there were a lot of talking heads saying that stuff like this was wasteful.

      I think it's exactly the opposite. There is nothing better you can do in rural and smaller areas. You can't have businesses anywhere without good Internet.

      Here in the US we're going to see a 3rd world status in regards to networking by the end of our lifetimes (that is if it's not already that way yet).

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Here in the US we're going to see a 3rd world status in regards to networking by the end of our lifetimes (that is if it's not already that way yet).

        No, we are not. People and companies willing to pay for top-quality networking have access to it. The expectation that rural areas should get equal connectivity at the same cost as urban areas will always keep the average service below the average service in other countries that are willing to pay what it costs. But that is not 3rd world status.

        Besides, do you really think that fiber is going to be cutting edge by the end of our lifetimes? Maybe if you are old. I personally am holding out hope for cost

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by fyi101 ( 2715891 )

          Here in the US we're going to see a 3rd world status in regards to networking by the end of our lifetimes (that is if it's not already that way yet).

          No, we are not. People and companies willing to pay for top-quality networking have access to it. The expectation that rural areas should get equal connectivity at the same cost as urban areas will always keep the average service below the average service in other countries that are willing to pay what it costs. But that is not 3rd world status.

          Besides, do you really think that fiber is going to be cutting edge by the end of our lifetimes? Maybe if you are old. I personally am holding out hope for cost-effective neutrino-based wireless communication, where the boundary of urban and rural makes no difference.

          HAHAHAHAHAA*gasp*HAHAHAHA I love this kind of brilliant satire, so close to a Poe. Here, lemme help you:

          "No, we are not. People and companies willing to pay for top-quality healthcare have access to it. The expectation that poor people should get equal access to healthcare at the same level of decent healthcare as rich folk will always keep the average service below the average service in other countries that are willing to pay what it costs. But that is not 3rd world status.

          Besides, do you really think tha

        • Here in the US we're going to see a 3rd world status in regards to networking by the end of our lifetimes (that is if it's not already that way yet).

          No, we are not. People and companies willing to pay for top-quality networking have access to it.

          You left of "willing and ABLE to pay". So as long as the rich can get top-quality networking the U.S. is golden? The U.S. is 19th in the world in broadband penetration, and 19th in the world in broadband speed. Can a nation compete economically when it is far behind in the core infrastructure of the 21st Century?

          The expectation that rural areas should get equal connectivity at the same cost as urban areas will always keep the average service below the average service in other countries that are willing to pay what it costs.

          How dare rural people expect electricity at affordable prices, decent roads like city-folk, mail service, and broadband? Who do the think they are? Real Americans? You would think they were citizens

  • Right-of-way aquisition underway (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    500 meter wide utility corridors are being cut through Palestinian neighborhoods and agricultural land in preparation for fiber rollout.

  • they are slow like dial-up (Score:3, Informative)

    by sudo ( 194998 ) on Thursday December 27, 2012 @04:09PM (#42405949) Homepage

    Lets hope they also upgrade their connectivity to the rest of the world.

    Our company has tech centers in Israel and most of the time it feels like they are connected via dial up.
    Even copying files they regularly stall.

  • A universally hated people needs to be secure (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    It would come as no surprise whatsoever if a significant percentage of that bandwidth will be dedicated for security purposes. However, I see nothing wrong with that. Israel is not the USA. She is a homeland to a people whom the world hates because they dare present to humanity (brace yourselves) MORALITY. You know stuff that spoils fun, like no f**king outside marriage (adultery) or before marriage (fornication), not forcing input into an output-only device (homosexual activity). She is not a liberty exper

    • Re:A universally hated people needs to be secure (Score:4, Informative)

      by Catbeller ( 118204 ) on Thursday December 27, 2012 @08:29PM (#42407679) Homepage

      "She is a homeland to a people whom the world hates because they dare present to humanity (brace yourselves) MORALITY"

      The Palestinians? Never thought of it that way before. Thanks. Yeah, they are Semites, ain't they? We should stop being so anti-Semitic...

      Waiting for the pre-4000 BC Ebla-ites to stake their claim. After all, they were there before anyone else. Plenty of descendants about, mostly Palestinian, I'd imagine. Prior possession is 100% of the law, ya know. Might be some Neaderthals or Cro-Magnon claimaints, too. There's been people in that once-fertile land for over twelve thousand years. Probably hundreds of thousands. Maybe a half million years, depending on how you define homo sapiens.

      The land is a mined-out, farmed-out dessicated near-wasteland of the not-so-real. It's been peopled to death.

  • Your tax DOLLARS at work (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27, 2012 @04:49PM (#42406265)

    " The fiscal year 2013 budget request “includes $3.1 billion in Foreign Military Financing [FMF] for Israel and $15 million for refugee resettlement. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s FY2013 budget request includes $99.8 million in joint U.S.-Israeli co-development for missile defense.""

    "To date, the United States has provided Israel $115 billion in bilateral assistance. It is currently the second largest recipient of aid worldwide, with Afghanistan now first."

    U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel: 2012 Congressional Report - Christopher Olver | April 26, 2012 ....I realize the US trade empire has a vested interest in a friendly outpost in the middle east, but when will Israel be considered strong enough to stop getting what amounts to charity?

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel: 2012 Congressional Report - Christopher Olver | April 26, 2012 ....I realize the US trade empire has a vested interest in a friendly outpost in the middle east, but when will Israel be considered strong enough to stop getting what amounts to charity?

      Considering that the Arab Spring is getting hijacked by Islamists who have more in common with Iran ("lsrael should be wiped off the map") than the various dictators they replaced, I'm guessing Israel will find itself even more in the middle of hostile territory now. As for when the US will stop backing them up, they're best buddies. When the UN voted 188-3 to condemn the US trade embargo against Cuba, who were the three? The US, Israel and Palau. Even their usual lapdog the UK wouldn't side with US on that

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dave420 ( 699308 )
        The "wiped off the map" quote is not correct. It would help your argument if you didn't repeat nonsense.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Kjella ( 173770 )

          The "wiped off the map" quote is not correct. It would help your argument if you didn't repeat nonsense.

          Here's the exact quote from a senate resolution [gpo.gov] against President Ahmadinejad:

          The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land. As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map

          Iran has made many other public statements that have been only slightly less blatant over the last decade, that you think it isn't true must mean you have your head stuck waaaaaay deep in the sand.

          • Actually, I have done my homework and I think that like with most people on here, your ideas about Iran likely are a caricature of reality. An outrageous caricature, to put it mildly . There have been plenty of inflammatory iranian public statements indeed, but they're no big deal. Often they were an attempt to improve iranian standing with an arab target audience, not an iranian audience, and with relative success. Ahmadinejad has done a lot of effort to 'work' the arab audiences. They care about the Pales

          • Here's the exact quote from a [US] senate resolution...

            So? Whoever wrote that was blithely repeating a myth. The Israeli minister of intelligence, Dan Meridor, conceded that Ahmedinejad never actually said that Israel “must be wiped off the map.” [nytimes.com]

  • If fiber optic networks' #1 enemy is squirrels, imagine what rockets, grenades, and assorted bombs would do to it. Considering the sensitivity and the repair costs, this seems pretty stupid. They even shy away from putting optical fiber in earthquake areas let alone a recurring war zone.

    • If fiber optic networks' #1 enemy is squirrels, imagine what rockets, grenades, and assorted bombs would do to it. Considering the sensitivity and the repair costs, this seems pretty stupid. They even shy away from putting optical fiber in earthquake areas let alone a recurring war zone.

      Israel isn't a war zone. They have skirmishes and rockets launched at their borders but that isn't where the majority of the population lives. No one in the foreseeable future is going to significantly damage their comm network like you suggest.

      • As if they don't launch rockets at Tel Aviv from Gaza...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Uberbah ( 647458 )

          The rockets that the IDF admits a are psychological, not military, threat? In Israel, you are more likely to die by being hit by a bus than from a quassam rocket. No, not car accidents overall, but accidents involving buses.

          And, the greatest barrages in recent years (in between Obama getting (re)elected and being sworn in, funny how that works) have followed an Israeli violation of a cease fire or assassination of Palestinian officials who are busy negotiating a cease-fire.

  • While they are at it, they should also convert completely to IPv6, so that they can do all their pioneering work on the new security that will be needed in IPv6 networks
  • I thought this was about Israel's gigabit internet upgrade, not about Israel vs. Palestine. Does every mention of Israel in the news have to trigger this debate?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Uberbah ( 647458 )

      Probably, in the same way Apartheid used to come up when South Africa was mentioned before the 90's. For the same reasons.

      • Interesting that, for an "apartheid state," Israel has Palestinians as members of the Knesset, but then that piece of information continues to stray from the topic at hand.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Uberbah ( 647458 )

          Interesting that, for an "apartheid state,"

          Yeah, an apartheid state. Greater rights for immigrants fresh off the plane from Russia than for natives who have lived there for 10 generations. Restricted travel. Racial profiling. At the whims of the military. Starving the population, I'm sorry, "putting them on a diet". Holding thousands in jail with little or no charges.

          Israel has Palestinians as members of the Knesset

          You mean it has Israeli Arabs in the Knesset, not a small distinction. Palestinians l

  • And here India is thinking that spending $4 billion or so will get it a nationwide fibre network. No wonder what has been done so far doesn't actually work properly. I feel sorry for the people that are going to have to be using this for lack of another choice.

    I only bring it up because I've been working with Israelis on my unrelated-to-the-government fibre network in India - and I still can't fathom the amount of money it's going to cost me over the next decade or so to do that, but I'm sure it'll be more

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