September 9, 2012

Cable Internet equal to fibre optic, says consumer watchdog

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 9:49 am

Consumer watchdog Consumentenbond has compared two types of broadband Internet in the latest issue of its magazine Digitaalgids, and concluded that cable and fibre optic are equals.

Fibre-optic providers have apparently been claiming that their product is better than that of cable Internet providers.

Webwereld quotes Digitaalgids:

  • Fibre-optic and cable providers claim to offer speeds that they do not deliver.
  • Prices are comparable.
  • Cable can still get faster and will therefore remain competitive for the foreseeable future.

Consumentenbond is quick to point out a couple of advantages of fibre optic compared to cable. Theoretically, fibre can reach 1 gigabit per second, and it offers upload speeds that are as fast as download speeds. The average Internet user currently has no use for those speeds, which may be why fibre adoption is going fairly slow at the moment. Consumers may also have real choice of providers in the future, whereas cable networks are typically controlled by a single provider.

(Photo by Jacek SzymaƄski, some rights reserved)

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October 25, 2011

Dutch have fastest Internet connections in Europe

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 9:48 am

The Register writes:

The Netherlands have the fastest Internet connections in Europe according to a State of the Internet report by Akamai, with more than 68 per cent of Dutch broadband lines clocking in at 5Mbit/s or more.

[…]

The fastest Internet in the world is found in Japan, with 59 Japanese cities filling out the Akamai list of the 100 cities with the fastest broadband. Brno in the Czech Republic has the fastest connection speeds of any city in Europe at an average of 8.3Mbit/s. No UK cities make the top 100.

Global average connection speed grew 43% in the last year. The Netherlands is also the country with the highest level of broadband adoption in the world, with 68% of the households having a fast connection.

In case you’ve never heard of them, Akamai are the people who used to host large files for large companies until Amazon shouldered its way into the market. (I am sure they’re still doing fine.) In other words, they know a thing or two about connectivity.

See also: Gigabit internet connection to the houseboat

(Photo by Joe Frisino, some rights reserved)

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September 16, 2008

Gigabit internet connection to the houseboat

Filed under: Architecture,Online by Branko Collin @ 7:57 am

A quick technology lesson for the easily intimidated: an Internet connection speed of 1 gigabit per second translates to a single high definition movie off the internet onto your PC in a minute. In theory.

A recent study shows that the Netherlands is the country with third best broadband Internet connection, after Japan and Sweden.

Jealous cries were heard from across the globe, bemoaning the lack of local governments’ willingness to innovate, but the position of the Netherlands has probably less to do with the innovative nature of its citizens and more with the way the country urbanised during the industrial revolution. Many railroads not just connecting cities but cutting through right to the city centres makes it easy to lay cables, especially if this network of rails is already owned by the government.

Meanwhile, a company called Draka has developed fibernet connectors for houseboat owners, so that they too may be connected to the Citynet initiative which aims to hook up almost all of Amsterdam to a 1 gigabyte per second fiber optics network before 2010. Shown here is Olivier Ax in front of his houseboat. So what do these owners of the first fiber optic connections do with all that speed? Whispers around the Internet say they first throttle it to 20 megabit per second, because the faster subscriptions are too expensive.

Photo: Draka. Also via Toby Sterling.

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