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June 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Why we lag in wireless
The article on the InfoWorld site today, U.S. lags behind other nations in broad-band speeds, is a common complaint I've heard for many years.
And if you really want to be aggravated, read this story on our site about what they are doing in Korea with WiMax.
I have always hear that Japan, Korea, and most of the Scandinavian countries are light years ahead of us in terms of quality of service and performance in wireless, particularly cell phone service.
I think much of this is simply due to the fact that for better or worse the wireless networks, i.e., the infrastructure, are unregulated.
In contrast, in most countries worldwide, the government dictates that everyone will use GSM, or in the case of Korea, CDMA, and so on.
There may be competition among service providers, but everyone is on the same page when it comes to the underlying technology.
It is obviously too late to do anything about it. And perhaps over time, wireless networks, like broadcast networks, will align behind a single technology.
Until that happens, there is not much you can do about it but move.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on June 25, 2007 02:49 PM
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You know, I really do expect better from a technology magazine than a politician or union. There are serious technical and economic limitations to overcome in order to cover the land mass and population densities of the United States with high speed internet.
Our much lower population densities (Wyoming, for example) make providing internet service less economically viable, and sometimes impossible with DSL distance limitations.
In contrast, South Korea is the size of Indiana, is 70% mountain, and has the population of California. Japan is officially the size of California, is something like 85% mountain, and has about half the population of the entire US. When you can pack people in that tightly, it's easily feasible to build out wired or wireless connections.
So congratulations to the city of Seoul, where about 20% of the population of South Korea live, on getting a WiMax service. And congratulations to Tokyo on getting 50 Mbps wired connections. But 200 square foot apartments are a steep tradeoff for either kind of internet speed.
Like all things, national wireless service is a trade off.
Do you want the freedom to experiment with local community wireless? Or do you want the government regulating wireless technology?
Bonus question: What are the chances the government regulators will make the "right" decisions?
Do you want Congress spending your money on regulating and enforcing wireless? Or do you want them spending money on something else more important? Or do you not want them spending your money at all?
Bonus question: What is the chance that along with the wireless legislation that might be passed, there would also be pork?
Your option of moving is always possible. What other country would you like to live in beside the US? Is it worth it for wireless service?
Best wishes,
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Smith at June 28, 2007 06:36 PM
