It is also seems to be citing that way over used and mostly irrelevant OECD statistics. http://www.ultra-high-speed-mn.org/CM/MeetingAgendasandMinutes/MeetingAgendasandMinutes54.asp Had a presentation and there are links to a power point and very extensive study on the OECD numbers by Scott Wallsten a Berkly grad working with http://www.techpolicyinstitute.org/ . In the end when all counties have 100% penetration due to household size the US will be ranted around 18th in the world. But it just sells papers to have the US look bad.... I guess.
Anthony Will Broadband Corp. rea...@muddyfrogwater.us wrote: > I'd like to ponit out that the article leaves out some information, and it > leaves you with a false impression because of it. It made note of the > "price" of broadband being cheaper in Japan and other places. That's true, > but much of the infrastructure was funded by tax dollars, instead of the > customers of the ISP's. > > I believe if this were properly acounted for, internet would be cheapest in > the US, and more everywhere else. It's not the price, it's the COST that > matters, and cost must include the publicly financed portions of the > equation. Everyone pays for that, not everyone uses it, and that cost is > rarely factored in these articles. That leaves a false impression of it > being cheap, which it is not and has not ever been. > > > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > <insert witty tagline here> > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Broadwick" <jeffl...@comcast.net> > To: "'WISPA General List'" <wireless@wispa.org> > Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 8:38 AM > Subject: [WISPA] From Today's WSJ > > > >> Congress Approves Broadband to Nowhere >> Why the U.S. lags in Internet speed. >> >> * >> By L. GORDON CROVITZ >> >> >> In Japan, wireless technology works so well that teenagers draft novels on >> their cellphones. People in Hong Kong take it for granted that they can >> check their BlackBerrys from underground in the city's subway cars. Even >> in >> France, consumers have more choices for broadband service than in the U.S. >> >> The Internet may have been developed in the U.S., but the country now >> ranks >> 15th in the world for broadband penetration. For those who do have access >> to >> broadband, the average speed is a crawl, moving bits at a speed roughly >> one-tenth that of top-ranked Japan. This means a movie that can be >> downloaded in a couple of seconds in Japan takes half an hour in the U.S. >> The BMW 7 series comes equipped with Internet access in Germany, but not >> in >> the U.S. >> The Opinion Journal Widget >> >> Download Opinion Journal's widget and link to the most important >> editorials >> and op-eds of the day from your blog or Web page. >> >> So those of us otherwise wary of how wisely the stimulus package will be >> spent were happy to suspend disbelief when Congress invited ideas on how >> to >> upgrade broadband. Maybe there are shovel-ready programs to bring >> broadband >> to communities that private providers have not yet reached, and to upgrade >> the speed of accessing the Web. These goals sound like the digital-era >> version of Eisenhower's interstate highway projects, this time bringing >> Americans as consumers and businesspeople closer together on a faster >> information highway. >> >> But broadband, once thought to be in line for $100 billion as part of the >> stimulus legislation, ended up a low priority, set to get well under $10 >> billion in the package of over $800 billion. This is a reminder that even >> with a new president whose platform focused on technology, and even with >> the >> fully open spigot of a stimulus bill, technology gets built by private >> capital and initiative and not by government. >> >> The relatively small appropriation is not for want of trying. A partial >> list >> of the lobbying groups involved in the process is a reminder of how >> Washington's return to industrial policy requires lobbying by all: the >> Information Technology Industry Council, Telecommunications Industry >> Association, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, >> Fiber-to-the-Home Council, National Association of Telecommunications >> Officers and Advisors, National Telecommunications Cooperative >> Association, >> Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and Organization for >> the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. >> >> The result was a relatively paltry $6 billion for broadband in the House >> bill and $9 billion in the Senate, with each bill micromanaging the >> spending >> differently. The bills include different standards, speeds and other >> requirements for providers that would use the public funds. This may >> balance >> competing interests among cable, telecom and local phone companies, but it >> doesn't address the underlying problems of too few providers delivering >> too >> few options to consumers. >> >> Techies may be surprised by how these funds would be dispersed. The House >> would give the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service control >> over half the grants and the Commerce Department's National >> Telecommunications and Information Administration control of the other >> half. >> Tax credits would have been a faster way to make a difference than >> government agencies dividing spoils across the country. >> >> The House bill also calls for "open access." This phrase can include >> hugely >> controversial topics such as net neutrality, which in its most radical >> version would bar providers from charging different amounts for different >> kinds of broadband content. Now that video, conferencing and other >> heavy-bandwidth applications are growing in popularity, price needs to be >> one tool for allocating scarce resources. Analysts at Medley Global >> Advisors >> warn that if these provisions remain in the bill, "it will keep most >> broadband providers out of the applicant pool" for the funds intended >> specifically for them. >> In Today's Opinion Journal >> >> More fundamentally, nothing in the legislation would address the key >> reason >> that the U.S. lags so far behind other countries. This is that there is an >> effective broadband duopoly in the U.S., with most communities able to >> choose only between one cable company and one telecom carrier. It's this >> lack of competition, blessed by national, state and local politicians, >> that >> keeps prices up and services down. >> >> In contrast, most other advanced countries have numerous providers, using >> many technologies, competing for consumers. A recent report by the Pew >> Research Center entitled "Stimulating Broadband: If Obama Builds It, Will >> They Log On?" concluded that for many people, the answer is no, often due >> to >> high monthly prices. By one estimate, the lowest monthly price per >> standard >> unit of millions of bits per second is nearly $3 in the U.S., versus about >> 13 cents in Japan and 33 cents in France. >> >> We're told that we now live in an era of more regulation and more >> government >> spending, but neither approach is how problems get solved in technology. >> Government mandates on how networks should be operated and subsidies >> administered by USDA aren't going to ensure broadband access, make >> connections faster, or lower prices. >> >> What we need to get the U.S. back into the top ranks of wired countries is >> more competition, not taxpayer handouts. That would be a real stimulus. >> >> Write to information...@wsj.com >> >> >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >> > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
