I have always wondered what it was (is) like to be one of the last ones to get access to electricity or to be able to have a telephone line at your house. I own a piece of property that got access to electricity in 1940, telephone lines didn't come until after World War II. Today, the best dial-up connection that I ever get is 40 kbps, and the only way to get broadband (aka "a high speed internet connection") is to sign up for satellite service - which is a little too expensive for my tastes. A "wired" broadband connection is only 3 miles away, but it seems like a long 3 miles as it may be years before that trunk line gets extended to my house.
Broadband access and capabilities differ from neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, county to county, and state to state in the United States. More often than not, it is the rural communities that are the last to gain access to these "wired" innovations. The speeds and availability of broadband also greatly differs from country to country. South Korea is the "most connected" country in the world with 70-80% of the households have a broadband connection.
To help understand all of the differences, perhaps you could respond to these questions as a comment to the blog:
t.
1. France
2. Yes : ADSL/Cable/Satellite/Dial up/FTTH (soon)
3. ADSL
4. 18Mb/1Mb for me, but up to 28/1 for the same fee
5. 30€ Flat Fee : with TV (+PVR +TV on computer) + free and unlimited Phone to 49 countries
1. Caracas, Venezuela
2. Yes, ADSL or Cable
3. Right now Cable, but I'm going to switch to another provider (ADSL)
4. Cable minimum 1024Kbps/128Kbps, ADSL equivalent plan 1024Kbps/512Kbps
5. Flat fee. ~ Bs. 100.000,00 (aprox $50) per month
1. Mainz, Germany
2. No
4. ADSL equivalent plan 2048Kbps/256Kbps
5. Flat fee.(aprox $25) per month
1. Sao Paulo, Brazil
2. Cable/ADSL
4. 512kbps down / 128kbps up
5. ~US$40 plus ISP fee ~US$17 per month
1. Moscow, Russian Federation
2. Yes, Cable/ADSL/Dial Up
4. 2048 down / 512 up
5. $35, Flat
1. USA
2. Yes
3. Wireless (via special antenna/receiver setup)
4. 150kbs down (don't know the up)
5. $20 flat
2. Yes (Cable, Satellite, NO DSL)
3. Cable Modem (Comcast, formerly Adelphia)
4. 3.5 Mbps(down) / 0.4 Mbps(up)
5. $53 (prox) Flat Fee, Unlimited bandwidth as far as I know.
> 1. What country do you live in?
UK
> 2. Do you have mutliple options for broadband service?
Yes. Numerous DSL ISPs, plus cable.
> 3. What type of broadband service do you have?
ADSL2+ c15Mbps
> 4. What are the download / upload speeds?
Actual throughput is c13Mbps / 1Mbps
> 5. How much do you pay per month? Is it a flat fee or a variable fee (based on usage)?
Flat. 25ukp/month inc taxes.
If you want to know more about European broadband ISPs, availability, speeds and packages please get in touch with me via JupiterResearch or my signed on email here.
1. U.S. (Ohio)
2. No, cable TV available but not Internet access, dialup available but not DSL, Fixed wireless available but signal doesn't reach my house, cellular broadband available but signal doesn't reach my house, satellite available but US$500 installation plus US$150 per month and VPN doesn't work; no change is expected for at least the next 5 years so I'm still living in the stone age but at least I got electric and running water... I thought I was living in a modern technologic country ;-)
3. None
4.
5.
1. Denmark
2. Yes (128Kbs-8Mbs/56Kbs-512Kbs ADSL or 512Kbs-10Mbs/256-512Kbs Cable. Both flat rate and flex rate options are available)
4. 8Mbs/512Kbs
5. 100$ monthly (flat rate)
1. United Kingdom
2. Yes. DSL & Cable.
4. 2.2 Mbps down / 0.4 Mbps up
5. £22.99 ($46) each month. Flat rate, with download limit of 8GB each month (as long as you don't regularly exceed this they won't cut you off.)
2. Two. DSL & Cable.
3. Cable
4. 10 Mbps down (peak) / .4 Mbps up
5. $45
1. Canada
2. DSL & Cable
4. High-speed 7Mbps down, 820Kbps up
5. 38.95$ CAD (excluding taxes and cable television)
1. Iceland
2. Cable, ADSL2+, Fibre (from 4 ISP's)
3. ADSL2+
4. 12Mbps dl/800Kbps ul
5. $100US (6490ISK) flat rate (Icelandic ISP's used to charge for international dl, and still do so for the less expensive accounts with the rate of 2.5ISK for 1MB over the free limit)
PS. Iceland was the "most connected" country in the last ITU report http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/SearchView.aspx?q=%22broadband%20statistics%22
2. YES, Cable, DSL, and Dish
4. I have 15MPS down, and 2 MPS up but 30MPS down is available.
5. $49.95