Australia shows US how a real broadband strategy works

[steven787]

Retrasado said:

omgwtfbbq said:

Steven787 said:

Australia has 20 million people, 70% of which live in top seven cities.

The U.S. has 300 million people, 8% of which live in the top seven cities.

The U.S. has 50 million subscribers (not just available) to lines of speeds from 3-10Mbps

Our taxes are lower.

High Speed for all v. I get to choose what I spend my money on... hmm let me think about that.

There are no caps on downloads or fees for overages in the U.S., plans in OZ charge.

Plans in OZ are way more for the higher speeds, the lower speeds are cheap though (but you don't get much DL capacity).

8% of 300 million is still higher than 70% of 20 million. Population density in US is heaps higher than Australia, even if we discount those areas of Australia that are largely desert and wasteland. US has no excuse for not providing decent broadband.

Having said that, you are right about the rest. Australia's broadband services suck balls currently, easily the worst out of all the developed nations. While this broadband push is a good idea I know exactly what's going to happen, we're going to get charged through the nose and have shitty caps like always.

 

The areas of the US that are near major cities DO have great internet access (with no download caps I might add) However, for the significant portion of the population that does NOT live near major cites, it is far more patchy. And btw, the US does have an excuse. as you can see in the following maps, the U.S's population is spread out much more than Australia's:

Notice how the vast majority of Australia's population is clustered near the southeastern coast with only a few other areas (notably Perth and Cairns-Townsville) having major population clusters. In contrast, nearly half of the US (<1,300,000 sq mi/3,300,000 km²) has a significant population concentration. This presents a far far greater challenge to building an adequate fiber network that Australia will ever have to deal with.

 

 

.08 times 300 million = 24 million

@OMG, Yes you are right, 8% of US is bigger, that is my point.  Theoretically, it would be harder to organize this.

But in reality, not plans theoretical plans, the U.S. provides broadband internet to more square miles than any other country, it is affordable with no caps and almost no censorship.

Everyone wants to hate on the U.S. all the time for something.  Hate the foreign policy, not everything else.  (Don't hate the playa, hate game.)

Also, the states have a lot of Control over this stuff.  Some mid-western state choose not to put upgrades into the budget and bring down the National average.

Higher max speeds are available in the U.S., but many people choose not to buy this service.  I have 3mbps, I can get upto 10  for $10 extra.  I don't need it though. This phenomena also brings down the national average.