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High-speed Net expensive, slow: Report
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| dEsidEL |
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High-speed Net expensive, slow: Report
June 01, 2009
Michael Geist
In recent months, much of the discussion about high-speed Internet service in Canada has focused on two key issues – net neutrality and the need to bring broadband access to the remaining underserved areas in rural Canada.
Both of these issues are now squarely on the public agenda, with the CRTC conducting hearings on net neutrality next month and the government committing millions toward rural broadband initiatives in this year's budget.
Missing is a third, fast-growing concern, however. According to a new OECD report, Canada has one of the slowest and most expensive consumer broadband networks in the developed world. The OECD report, widely viewed as the leading benchmark on broadband networks in the world, compared Canada with 29 other countries on a range of metrics. These included broadband availability, pricing, speed, and bandwidth caps.
At first glance, the numbers do not seem that bad, with Canada ranking ninth out of 30 countries for broadband penetration. While that represents a sharp decline from years ago when Canada prided itself in standing second worldwide, its current position is unchanged from last year.
Yet, the situation becomes far more troubling once the OECD delves deeper into Canadian broadband pricing and speed.
Canada is relatively expensive by OECD standards, ranking 14th for monthly subscription costs at $45.65 (U.S.) per month. By comparison, Japanese consumers pay an average of $30.46 per month and consumers in Britain spend an average of $30.63. The relatively high prices may help to explain why there are still many Canadians with access to broadband networks that choose not to subscribe.
Not only is the Canadian Internet relatively expensive, it is also comparatively slow, ranking 24th out of the 30 OECD countries. Internet users in Japan, Korea and France enjoy a genuinely different Internet experience, where the far-faster speeds allows for applications and services that have yet to make their mark in Canada.
Moreover, the speed gap between Canada and most of the OECD appears to be growing. The fastest consumer speeds often come from fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services that are commonplace in countries like Japan (48 per cent of consumers) and Korea (43 per cent of consumers), but virtually non-existent in Canada. In fact, the OECD placed Canada's FTTH penetration at zero per cent.
When price and speed are combined, Canada sinks toward the very bottom of the OECD rankings. As measured by price per megabyte – effectively the price for speed – Canada ranks 28th out of 30 countries, ahead of only Mexico and Poland. This may be the most telling metric, since it confirms that Canadians pay more for less.
Canadian consumers also face far less choice with respect to broadband options. Canada was one of only four countries (Australia, New Zealand, and Belgium were the others) where all broadband options included "bit caps" that limit consumer use each month.
Canadian ISPs are quick to claim that they regularly upgrade their networks and the services they provide. For example, Rogers announced new faster speeds for two of its broadband Internet services last week. Although the new speeds were promoted as a free upgrade, the company raised its prices just two months earlier by as much as ten percent.
Most Canadians recognize the critical importance of broadband networks for communication, commerce, education, and access to knowledge. Canada was once a global leader, yet today the marketplace suffers from high prices, slow speeds, and throttled services that have led to a decline in comparison with peer countries.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at [email protected] or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.
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source:
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/643388
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| Invasionmix |
| Stupid Rogers. |
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| daves |
I don't agree on speeds... 10mbps is not slow, 7mbps is not slow... 3mbps is not even slow.
If other countries are rushing to stick 50mbps FTTH lines in when the existing Internet itself does not allow content from most sources to any individual end user anywhere near that kind of speed... that's their problem.
Having Ferraris and Lamborghinis for speed will do nothing when you are driving on roads with a 60mph speed limit.
I can see the point regarding prices though. |
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| Orko |
My Buddy in S.Korea has 100mbps right to his door.
Very jealous. |
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| patpicos |
Summary: Canadian consumers are getting shafted!
Sweden gets 10mbit min to the door, 100mbit is the norm. GBIT is even affordable for small businesses...
45MBIT line in Ontario will cost u an arm and a leg |
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| Djsketchbag |
| quote: | Originally posted by Invasionmix
Stupid Rogers. |
Hey we just up all our speeds free of charge! |
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| Dave Akermanis |
| quote: | Originally posted by daves
I don't agree on speeds... 10mbps is not slow, 7mbps is not slow... 3mbps is not even slow.
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You must be living in the 90s? |
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| Invasionmix |
| quote: | Originally posted by Djsketchbag
Hey we just up all our speeds free of charge! |
Pfft that just means I'm finally get what I should be paying for. Even still it's a bit overpriced :P Gonna switch over to Acanac soon. |
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| daves |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dave Akermanis
You must be living in the 90s? |
Nope! Welcome to 2009 where the numbers on paper are THAT MUCH LARGER... but don't translate into real-world performance/benefit quite the same way.
Oh, what's that... it's not a new concept to 2009? It's been like that for years? Touche...
Reality is, short of your ISP's own internal network and having a LARGE # of seeders/leechers on a torrent you are grabbing... you won't get anywhere near 50mbps of throughput by downloading from most websites on the net. |
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| Orko |
| quote: | Originally posted by daves
Reality is, short of your ISP's own internal network and having a LARGE # of seeders/leechers on a torrent you are grabbing... you won't get anywhere near 50mbps of throughput by downloading from most websites on the net. |
He is correct.
Even when I am at work (100mbps), i do not get anywhere near that for downloads off of websites.
But that's not the point. With digi cams pushing 10 megapixels, and video being so popular, our home connections should be faster. IF upload was 5mbps, that would be great, but daves you know that maximum upload here is 1mbps, and usually 800kbps. |
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