[171904] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Observations of an Internet Middleman (Level3) (was: RIP Network
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Owen DeLong)
Fri May 16 10:25:31 2014
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: Owen DeLong <owen@delong.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAObxEFC-4pAAqakxqgzeAy=VA1f+WRfhzf+9d5Fc0f1qDYaXkA@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 07:19:45 -0700
To: Rick Astley <jnanog@gmail.com>
Cc: NANOG Operators' Group <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
On May 16, 2014, at 3:25 AM, Rick Astley <jnanog@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Broadband is too expensive in the US compared to other places
>=20
> I have seen this repeated so many times that I assume it's true but I =
have
> never seen anything objective as to why. I can tell you if you look at
> population density by country the US is 182nd in the world and the =
average
> broadband speed (based on OOKLA:
> http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/) is 30th in the world. =
South
> Korea that is well known for its fast broadband speeds has a density =
of
> 505/km vs the US at 32/km. We have about 1/15 of the population =
density and
> about 1/2 the average broadband speed. Hong Kong, Singapore, =
Netherlands,
> Japan, Macau etc. all have more than 10x the population density in the =
US
> so definitely not all countries with fast broadband make for a fair
> comparison and there are likely fewer that do. The UK is only beating =
the
> US by 2Mbps but has a population density of 262/km.
>=20
> So while its a fair assessment that broadband in the US is very bias =
to
> ignore some of the other factors involved. Another mistake I see =
people
> keep making is in comparing the cost of broadband in the US in $USD to
> other countries around the world. The cost of broadband in Estonia is =
only
> about $30/month. OMG, I can't believe broadband is cheaper in Estonia! =
What
> people ignore is everything is cheaper in Estonia, the average =
household
> income in Estonia is $14k vs $55k here. By that measure broadband is =
more
> expensive for families there than it is in the US. This is another =
point
> people repeat without bothering to qualify. This would be like my
> grandfather comparing the costs of a candy bar from back when he was a =
kid
> to today but ignoring inflation.
I might be willing to accept this argument if it weren=92t for the fact =
that rural
locations in the US are far more likely to have FTTH than higher density =
areas
because the whole USF thing has inverted the priorities.
I live in the largest city in the bay area, yet there is only one =
facilities
based provider in my area that can deliver 2mbps or more and that=92s =
over
HFC. Twisted pair is abysmal and there is no fiber.
The situation is not significantly better in the densest city in the bay =
area, either.
South Korea averages 4x US Speed for an average $28.50/month.
US averages 1x US Speed for an average $45.50/month.
(http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/31/broadband.south.korea/)
Korean average annual wage: $36,757 @ 21% tax =3D $29,038 take-home.
US Average annual wage: $55,048 @ 29.6% tax =3D $38,753 take-home.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage)
So that says KR take-home wage =3D ~75% of US wage.
75% of $45.50 is $34.125
So 4x speed is still approximately $5 cheaper per month in KR than in =
the US.
Owen
