So, according to that article, 80% of Americans have access to broadband, if they want it. 18% currently have broadband. That means 62% choose not to, or can't afford it. Let's be really generous and split that 62% down the middle.
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.
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.
So, according to that article, 80% of Americans have access to broadband, if they want it
Two comments about that:
what is considered "broadband" in the US is considered laughably slow and outdated in places like Japan (you can get 22 megabits/sec for about $22 a month in Japan)
in the US, "access to broadband" means "there is at least one location in this zipcode that can have broadband", hardly a fair and accurate measure.
Thanks you for injecting numbers that have some actual relevance to an intelligent discussion. There is a real groupthink idea that everyone simply has to pay to have broadband access regardless of every other factor. If you are a shareholder in a cable or phone company that might qualify as a good idea but not so good if you are interested in the best allocation of your own resources.
Internet access is not some absolute good that reason dictates everyone must maximize. How much downloaded music, porn and
do you know the difference of the definition of "broadband" in US and China??? In china it is generally 3 - 20 Mbps but in US 1 - 3 Mbps is already a modest service
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
Surely, someone as educated as yourself must have something rather more important to do than picking nits about my (lack of) capitalization of the abbreviation of million...
Don't forget to take into account land mass. The US is the third largest, while China is the forth largest. With the thought that, the smaller area there is to cover, the easier it is to connect your citizens. So, we have a 14% higher boadband usage AND a larger land mass, therefore, I think we are well not to consider this any pressing news.
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?
Oh, please, your contortions are ridiculous. Consumer adoption of broadband is no more significant than subscription rates for cable TV. It is almost entirely an entertainment option. If you are looking for important infrastructure issues then you should be looking at things like the deployment of Internet 2 or other advanced networks. How's that doing in China? No, I'm really asking because I don't know. I do know that there are significant numbers of research institutions in the US that are participating.
Yes, per capita numbers would be nice but even stratify it more by including number of people / income bracket.
Now there would be some meaningful numbers. After all I wouldn't expect some pennyless farmer in a rural area to have a DSL connection.
I wouldn't expect some pennyless farmer in a rural area to have a DSL connection.
And yet we do. OK, ok, so we're not "pennyless," but plenty of farmers in MY rural area (SE South Dakota) have DSL connections. They're really not that much more expensive than dialup, and pretty widely available considering the crappy population density around here.
China's middle class is quickly rising and is currently approximately twice the entire U.S. population (a bit more than 600 million middle class people in China).
I've traveled to a lot of places and Georgia (particularly Atlanta and Savannah) has some of the nicest, most beautiful people I've ever seen. I have so many anecdotes. People have invited me off the street to their parties, I have nearly gotten in accidents while in dumbfounded awe at the beauty of some women... I was invited to sit with a table full of women at this restaurant and a cake shaped like a penis came out, it was insane... and most ironic of all, I met a girl in a Boston bar the other night (I'
Glad you admit you're an asshole even by your own publicly claimed and held standards. Brilliant.
Isn't it strange how most people who find it necessary to paint with a large brush and do gross generalizations are really the ones who are truly what-they-are-trying-to-describe?
Actually, admitting that I'm part of the problem tells you that I'm at least honest with myself. Something that is required before an individual can consider changing his/her behavior. Most americans are totally unaware how badly
Percentages (Score:1, Insightful)
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:2)
Internet access is not some absolute good that reason dictates everyone must maximize. How much downloaded music, porn and
Re:Percentages (Score:1)
Re:Percentages (Score:1)
I get slightly more than 3Mbps on my comcast cable broadband here in the US. But I definately don't get anywhere near 3MBps.
While at college I easily got 10MBps, if not more.
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:1)
Re:Percentages (Score: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.
Re:South Korea has the highest percent (Score:2)
Re:Percentages (Score:1)
Re:Percentages (Score:1)
And yet we do. OK, ok, so we're not "pennyless," but plenty of farmers in MY rural area (SE South Dakota) have DSL connections. They're really not that much more expensive than dialup, and pretty widely available considering the crappy population density around here.
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:1, Troll)
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: Georgia (a bit OT) (Score:2)
Re:Population (Score:2)
Isn't it strange how most people who find it necessary to paint with a large brush and do gross generalizations are really the ones who are truly what-they-are-trying-to-describe?
Actually, admitting that I'm part of the problem tells you that I'm at least honest with myself. Something that is required before an individual can consider changing his/her behavior. Most americans are totally unaware how badly
Re:Population (Score:1)