China to Top U.S. in Broadband Subscribers 530
An anonymous reader writes "China already is rapidly approaching the United States as the country with the largest number of broadband subscribers, according to the El Segundo, Calif.-based firm, and by the end of the year, China is expected to have 34 million subscribers, compared to 39 million in the United States. By the end of 2007, China is expected to have 57 million broadband subscribers, compared to 54 million in the United States, with an even wider lead in the years to follow."
i would hope so (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:i would hope so (Score:2, Interesting)
It's well-documented there are watchers in chat rooms who redact material real-time which is "against policy", some horrendous filters which screen practically everything but spam, and I'll bet the only address they're allowed to connect to with FTP is 127.0.0.1.
Sheer numbers and population percentages mean nothing when there's nothing to look at. Trust me: t
Re:i would hope so (Score:5, Funny)
That's not so bad; it's a kickass site. Lightning fast, too.
Re:i would hope so (Score:4, Funny)
And whoever runs it likes all of the same pr0n that I do.
LK
Re:Breed Geeks, breed! (Score:4, Funny)
Go forth and multiply?
Where did I leave my pocket calculator?
1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:4, Insightful)
This isn't very interesting news at all.
Next on slashdot: China Tops US in rice consumption.
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2, Insightful)
fucking retart! (Score:2)
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2)
And for the specific point raised about military capacity, China claims that it could take on one or possibly two US carrier groups in battle. The US has 12 of them. But so what? That kind of thing just doesn't matter anymore.
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2, Interesting)
Are you for real? The worldwide annual military expenditures is ~$900 billion. The US portion of that is 1/2. That's right - one half of the world's militarism is the US. China is barely a blip, and is generally equipped with Russian cast-offs and cheap knock-offs.
Perhaps you're confused by the fact that China has the largest standing army - when you are dominated from the air and sea, that's what they call "cannon fodder". It's an absolutely irrelevant n
Re: (Score:2)
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2)
Hogwash. In order to win a war, you need to have men on the ground pointing guns at the enemy's government officials. No way to do that with just nukes. You cannot name a single war which was won without occupying infantry.
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:5, Funny)
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:5, Insightful)
Makes sense doesn't it now? Turn off your selective memory.
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2)
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:5, Informative)
But you're right, that doesn't sound quite as sexy. It's like when people complain about the US's "record" deficits even though it, as a percentage of it's GDP, is no where near record levels and is lower than most of Europe. But again, that's not as sexy.
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2)
Breaking Myths (Score:3)
And this one includes Federal spending as a percentage of GDP. [traxel.com]
In both cases, the GWB spending is not only record on total, but nearing as a percentage of GDP. In fact, only during WWII (when we had a manufactuering base) and Regans first term has it been higher.
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2)
Realy? Realy, realy? Realy realy realy??? (Score:2)
1. Take a look at USA trade deficite. That is by no means an indicator that we are dealing with a country that is manifacturing 1/4 of goods producing worldwide. It was what, something like ~60BN USD when I last took a look at it.
2. Take a look at where the plants are located. Have any significant amount of manifacturing action in US? Ok, big, fuel thursty cards and overpriced medicaments, but anything else?
3. USA dollar is fa
heh (Score:2)
Unless I were British, that is
Not that simple. (Score:5, Interesting)
In 1955, most people wouldn't have had any notion what "Broadband Internet Access" was. But if you could make them understand that it was a key technology of the 21st century, and that it would be more available in China than in the U.S....
An American would have reported you to the FBI for spreading commie propaganda. And a Chinese would have shaken his head at your obvious dementia. The U.S. has lost its edge, and this is another sign of it.
Re:Not that simple. (Score:2)
It's not more available in China than the US. To use your "China couldn't feed itself" analogy that is like saying that while "China couldn't feed itself" it still consumed more food than the US did in 1955 and therefore food was "more availble in China than in the US." Also you conviently forget that the internet in China is not the same as the internet in the US. The US has more restrictions on it than a lot of other places, but certai
Great! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Great! (Score:2)
Speaking as a person living outside both those countries, it looks like you guys are pretty even.
So? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So? (Score:2)
Some aspects of economics are zero-sum. The world has a fixed amount of minerals and fossil fuels, and only needs a small handful of semiconductor companies.
That explains Amercan interest in WiMax. (Score:2)
No
Re:So? (Score:2)
Re:So? (Score:2)
City dwellers are typically liberal
So what's new? Rural votes conservative, urban votes liberal?
You know what's pathetic? Presidential elections are
Re:So? (Score:2)
The poor have the lowest voter turnouts in the country. So, nice try, but you're theory doesn't float.
If every eligible person in the country voted, the more liberal candidates would win by a landslide. Minorities, poor, and other marginalized groups tend to be very unlikely to vote for a wide variety of reasons. These groups overwhelmingly support liberal candidates.
Re:So? (Score:2, Offtopic)
We have a thing called the Senate which protects the rights of the smaller states from being trampled upon by the larger states.
Re:So? (Score:5, Informative)
So, you posit that rural dwellers are self-reliant and accountable for their own actions, while city dwellers want government handouts.
Well, actually, the real data shows that the opposite is true. Let's talk taxes. Consider this study [ohio-state.edu] of the 2000 Bush-v-Gore election results, as mapped against states that receive net benefits from federal spending. If you want more recent data, you can map the raw facts yourself against the result of the 2004 Bush-v-Kerry election using this data [taxfoundation.org] published by taxfoundation.org [slashdot.org].
I'm come from plain talking folk, so let me just say it how it is. How red staters can keep posing about their hardy self-reliance while simultaneously sucking so hard on the public teat provided by the blue staters strikes me as being, at the very least, impolite. I don't mind contributing my fair share of taxes - I view it as an investment in my country for all that it provides to me- and for some of those taxes to go to support the undereducated, indigent or unfortunate, be they rural or urban. I don't even expect the recipients to say "please" or "thank you" when they take the money given to them. But do expect not to have my hand spit when I'm trying to give you the handout.
So, pass this around to your fellow self-reliant, hardy, accountable red staters -- Strut around and pose all you want, but if you can't be polite, give us back our taxes.
Thanks a bunch.
Re:So? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So? (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead of giving the money back, I'd appreciate it if the red states would spend some of it on their educational systems. The US going to need a better educated workforce if we're going to stay competitive. That, or keep recruiting the top foreign talent in place of the brains we're not willing to train at home.
Continuing the discussion of the disconnect between red state political ideals and realities. Guess which ten states have the highest bankruptcy rates? Utah, Tennessee, Nevada, Georgia, Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, Mississippi and Idaho - all red states. Nice, huh? What an incredible demonstration of fiscal responsibility and self reliance! Still, I like that your representatives are willing to put the screws to you with the change in bankrupcy laws they are trying to enact.
Once red staters stop drinking the Kool-Aid and realize that they were never as self-reliant as they think they are, and that the Republican elite DON'T have their best economic interests at heart, they're going to switch. It might kill them to join up with gay-loving baby killers, but they'll do it anyway when they can't feed their families. And they'll be begging for those safety nets that are being slowly stripped away.
Don't worry. We blue staters are an understanding and tolerant lot. Comes with the territory, so to speak. *grynn* You'll be welcome back into the mainstream fold.
But most of the content is unavailable... (Score:5, Insightful)
Score one for the rest of the free world.
Re:But most of the content is unavailable... (Score:2)
RS
Congruity (Score:2)
Could the title be 'China soon to topple US...'?
Re:Congruity (Score:2)
Great firewall (Score:5, Funny)
Further Developments (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, but who'd got MORE access? (Score:3, Insightful)
Good or bad our 54 million broadband subscribers get the WHOLE Internet, even the crazy North Korean bits
Now when is China going to beat that?
Of course... (Score:5, Informative)
Check for yourself: http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wp02/tabA-04.pdf [census.gov]
Hooray for manipulating statistics!
Even Canada is higher.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Even Canada is higher.. (Score:2, Funny)
I am not sure that is what they are speaking of.
Re:Even Canada is higher.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Even Canada is higher.. (Score:2, Redundant)
Its easy to wire major metropolitan areas in Canada for broadband, they're relatively large and not too spaced out. the region from Québec City, through Montréal, Ottawa and heading to Toronto is the population equivalent of the US's northeast, the centre for industry a
Could we proof-read the cut'n'paste blurbs, pls? (Score:2)
"...according to the El Segundo, Calif.-based firm..."
Er... according to WHICH El Segundo, Calif.-based firm? There must be more than one firm in El Segundo, Calif. Or is this the teaser that's supposed to entice me to read the fine article?
Dishnet aims for India-wide WiFi coverage in 2 yrs (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=tec
Is there a Free Software community in China? (Score:2)
I look at the Planet Gnome [gnome.org] map, [gnome.org] and I see like: 4 GNOME developers in China.
Is there a Free Software community in China?
Are they working on stuff we don't know about?
I'm having visions of like: One day, we discover there's a third pillar, in addition to just KDE and GNOME. And we didn't even know about it, because everything was worked on in Chinese, which we never searched for.
And thats a fair comparison how? (Score:2)
39 million... out of 300 million total people.
34 million... out of 6 billion total people.
So 1/9 verse 1/20th of the overall population... hardly seems so bad now. I will say the US is slipping, but that has more to do with our geography and population spread than a
Re:And thats a fair comparison how? (Score:2)
Chinese economic growth (Score:2, Interesting)
The essence of a comparison is that while t
Just another symptom. (Score:3, Insightful)
At least when that happens, maybe we can get our manufacturing jobs back. Maybe we won't have to live in this stagnant consumer culture and it'll be fashionable to NOT be up to your earlobes in debt. Maybe sunshine will burst out of our asses.
I, for one, welcome our new Sino-Overlords.
Re:Just another symptom. (Score:2)
Re:Just another symptom. (Score:2)
That is, of course, until their tanks interrupt your shopping trip.
Re:Just another symptom. (Score:2)
Re:Just another symptom. (Score:2)
No it will be at the expense of natural resources. The economy IS a zero sum game but not the way most people think. Economic advancement comes at the cost of natural resources. Since there is not an infinate amount of natural resources the economy is a zero sum game.
Actually the only way for the economy not be a zero sum game would be for there to be a
Re:Just another symptom. (Score:4, Insightful)
firewall? (Score:2, Insightful)
Slashdot fearfactor... (Score:2)
Does it mean anything? No. Considering most of our rural population still has multiple choices for dial-up/satellite internet access. Hell, my sister is in Nebraska with no choice of broadband, but she has
Ooooff (Score:2)
Here's a better article [com.com], with some statistics:
How exactly do they collect this information? It's not like the Chinese are real forthcoming with reliable info.
BTW, This is just another excuse for slashdot editors to kick the US in the crotch.
pick a metric (Score:2)
So, we measure broadband penetration by percentage of total population when we compare the US to Korea, but for China we just look at the straight population numbers? Well so long as the US lools bad, right?
Communism at work.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, I've heard Cuba touted as having the 'best' healthcare system in the world (honestly!)... , but I don't think you'd have easy access to a CAT scan unless your name was Fidel. It might be the most 'even' perhaps in that almost everyone has the same lack of access.
Any bandwidth figures?
Yeah! (Score:3, Funny)
Where the hell can you go? (Score:2)
Great, i can get my fill of propoganda FASTER now.
Who do these fucks think they are kidding. Just like SARS was under control and the bridge over the river that was DAMMED, this is in line with everything else. The only music download that does not include your closest relative paying for the bullet is "Dance Like Mao".
Just wait, they will get close, then fall away like every other US wannabe. Maybe they can have a cross between commie and rep, get everyone included, stop acting like the barbarians th
Head in the sand (Score:3, Insightful)
When the US going to wake up and realise that China is big and powerful and growing?
A quick trip around some of the major Chinese cities and and you can see a booming economy, new cars, lots of construction, retail and manufacturing. The Chinese are catching up quick. And I dont think most Chinese are too worried about censorship so long as they can make money.
Meanwhile the US is mucking about in Iraq, and lecturing other people on how to run their own countries. (Something that doesnt go down too well.)
It is only a matter of time before the Chinese economy catches up with the US, and I dont think they will be too well inclined towards the US. Then perhaps we will be wishing we paid a little more attention and were a little less arrogant.
Broadband is only one of many indicators that the USA's economic dominance might be shortlived.
Oh come on... (Score:2)
What a stupid story. You can compare some things based on actual numbers, like military figures, but this kind of stuff has to be per capita.
General consumption... (Score:2, Funny)
Uhhh....Missing Something? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Dialup (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Percentages (Score:5, Informative)
So China has about 4% and USA has 18%.
Re:Percentages (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Percentages (Score:2)
Almost 1/3 of Americans who do have access to broadband choose not to. If that 30% were to sign up, the US would be at almost 50% penetration.
Re:Percentages (Score:2)
Plus how many of those 62% are members of households that do have broadband? How many have access at work? I travel to towns of all sizes and geographic distribution and have yet to find one without public high speed access, usually for free. The only problem I've had was one cybercafe in Berkeley where the only box available had an OS in Korean. I didn't understand everything the folks there were saying, but I'm pretty sure they were ganging up on me at Unreal Tournament.
billy - respawning means never hav
Re:Percentages (Score:2)
Two comments about that:
Re:Percentages (Score:3, Informative)
South Korea - http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/skorea.html [doe.gov]
Population 48m
Area 38k sq. miles (about the size of Indiana or Kentucky)
US - http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/area.s html [enchantedlearning.com]
Population 293m
Area 3.5m sq. miles (2.9m continental)
I wonder what the percentage would be if we only accounted for metro areas like Seattle, New York, LA... while I'm sure it's nowhere near 73%, I bet it's well above 1
Re:Percentages (Score:2)
Data gathered from:
http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us. h tml [cia.gov]
http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.h tml [cia.gov]
South Korea has the highest percent (Score:2)
Countries like Korea and Japan are densely populated so rolling out broadband technology is going to be a lot easier than rolling out broadband technology out in Montana or North Dakota.
If both percentage and actual count aren't good measurements, what exactly is then?
% * n / density?
Re:South Korea has the highest percent (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, the contortions some people will go to rather than think about whether they ought to be concerned about the state of their nation.
Population (Score:2)
Think about that for a moment...
Re:Population (Score:3, Insightful)
Yep, and our middle-class is on the floor after getting it's nuts kicked repeatedly over the last 5 years.
Re:Population (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, I _am_ a US citizen living in Atlanta, GA. Born and raised US, white, middle-class, etc. And I meant what I said in that post.
Re:Newsflash! (Score:2)
Re:Mmmmm.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2, Insightful)
Is that the same democracy that has a US president and Congress making laws that apply to single individuals?
Is that the same democracy that holds people indefinitely without charge and without representation in cuba?
Is that the same democracy that give governments the right to spy on you without court orders and without your knowledge?
Is that the same democracy that executes juvenile offenders and the mentally impaired?
Is that the same democr
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2)
This is no longer true. See Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) and Roper v. Simmons, 125 S. Ct. 1183 (2005). Please update your canned talking points.
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2)
1. I assume you're referring to that flap over Schiavo, in which case, the "laws that apply to single individual" was not reviewed because the SC said it WASN'T about one person.
2. These non-US citizens who were caught in a foriegn country while actively fighting uniformed US soldiers deserve exactly what kind of representation under what US law?
3. What the heck is this babbling about? Every law regarding spying on indiv
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2)
See, it's the "foriegn country" bit that that kind of bugs us foriegners....
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2)
Yep - the same one where you can say shit like that all you want. Hell, you don't even have to post as anonymous coward. We know we got problems. We bitch about 'em more than the rest of the world combined. Oh, by the way, any Americans ever get killed protecting your country?
billy - America...love it or change it
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2)
Right! Threatening Taiwan, that's a good thing. Lying about how much independence they'd allow to thrive in Hong Kong, that's a good thing. Controlling the information that people in the country can read (like filtering out this site!), that's a good thing. So, how many years of inching forwards and backwards towards the right thing makes it OK?
powerful oligarchies which run big business and government
What? China is completely
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm personally a huge fan of democracy, but don't assume that everyone else in the world agrees with us, and certainly don't be lead to believe they want democracy forced upon them.
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2, Interesting)
Gee, I wonder, is this the democracy that we call a "catastropic success" [politicalwire.com], oh, say that Iraq [comedycentral.com] is having right now? Or maybe you're talking about the our wonderfully successful policy of spreading democracy [socialaffairsunit.org.uk] that doesn't work? I'm sure China would love to get some of that action...
Re:chinese democracy (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2)
If anything, YOU ARE BEING RACIST for thinking implying that democracy is incompatible with the Chinese way of thinking.
Re:It's the weekly.... (Score:2)
Or perhaps we can look at the percentage of subcribers out of the whole population instead of just the number of subscribers. We're ahead percentage wise and will still be ahead percentage wise in 2007 (according to the prediction). They might have more subscribers in 2007, but they also have roughly four times the p
Re:It's the weekly.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What good is broadband if it's censored? (Score:3, Informative)
If I one day would come across something that is blocked, I would of course go to virtualbrowser.com or use a proxy from proxy4free.com, both of which are totally unblocked in China (as is 99.9999% of the web, includ