Japan to get 1Gb/s in the home

[Unknown Soldier]

If you didn't already suffer from broadband envy, prepare to turn green: homes in Japan are set to get a 1Gb/s connection to the 'net.

According to a Japan Today article quoted by Slashdot user ashitaka, Japanese telecoms firm KDDI is set to launch a fibre broadband service aimed at single-family dwellings which will offer a staggering 1Gb/s symmetric connection.

Unlike ADSL, which is asymmetric in that it offers a far lower upstream speed than it does downstream, the service from KDDI will offer a full 1Gb/s in both directions – perfect for people planning on uploading large quantities of data. There's no mention there of a monthly usage cap, either: that said, nor is there any mention of contention ratio.

Considering the speed, the price is surprisingly affordable at 5,985 Yen per month (£30) based on a two-year contract. From here in the UK – where a 20Mb/s connection (with just 768Kb/s upstream) will set you back around the same price – that looks like an absolute bargain.

The service, due to launch on the first of October, will be the fastest available in Eastern Japan – a far cry from that 'paltry' 100Mb/s the poor customers of rival fibre-to-the-home provider NTT have to put up with. By offering a service of ten times the speed, KDDI is hoping to poach some of NTT's customers and gain some ground on the 70 percent market share owned by its rival.

News Source: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/29/japan-to-get-1gbs-in-the-home/1

 

[pjbliverpool]

News Source: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/29/japan-to-get-1gbs-in-the-home/1

This would be fast enough for live streaming 1080p content wouldn't it?

Its 125x faster than my connection at full speed (and I only get 1/4 the theoretical speed of mine)

 

[Arwin]

Nice of Sony to include a matching LAN adapter in the PS3 then.

(that's the only nice thing I could think of saying ... I get about 0,0000005 of that speed for nearly the same money )

 

["Nerve-Damage"]

News Source: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/29/japan-to-get-1gbs-in-the-home/1

Holy-shat!!

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Nice. They just have to make sure its in Tokyo and Kyoto in 2 years from now as I'll be going to university there then (given that I dont fail the upcoming 2 years at university, which my first test will be in just 3 weeks from now and I'm scared shitless for it).

 

[suryad]

Holy-shat!!

Took the words right out of my mouth!

 

[DJ12]

And I thought Japan couldn't get any "cooler" in the places to live stakes.

Cosplay chicks, technology 10 years ahead of England and now superfast broadband.

I'm sold.

 

[mczak]

This would be fast enough for live streaming 1080p content wouldn't it?

That's why more than necessary for live 1080p content (unless you're talking uncompressed...). Bluray has a limit of 54 mbps and I don't think any broadcast standard currently in use will ever use more than 20 mbps. So a 100 mbps connection should be good enough for a couple of simultaneous HD streams already.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

Fucking japan. getting all the cool shit while the rest of teh world is stuck with (relative) crap. Seriously though I have to give it to the Canadian government for keeping our country on par with Pakistan in terms of broadband penetration. I don't think there's many developed countries left where the fastest connection you can get tops out at around ~7mbps (I'm in Toronto). It pisses me off to no end, I've had similar net performance since about 1999 and it seems like nobody here cares either. When I moved into my new place the net that was provided with the house was a 5mbps line that was split between 8!!! different houses (23 people). Fucking crazy. And apparently that's actually acceptable for the vast majority of the tenants in these units I'm living in. crazy shit I tell u.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Fucking japan. getting all the cool shit while the rest of teh world is stuck with (relative) crap. Seriously though I have to give it to the Canadian government for keeping our country on par with Pakistan in terms of broadband penetration. I don't think there's many developed countries left where the fastest connection you can get tops out at around ~7mbps (I'm in Toronto). It pisses me off to no end, I've had similar net performance since about 1999 and it seems like nobody here cares either. When I moved into my new place the net that was provided with the house was a 5mbps line that was split between 8!!! different houses (23 people). Fucking crazy. And apparently that's actually acceptable for the vast majority of the tenants in these units I'm living in. crazy shit I tell u.

Odd, if I wanted I could get 25Mbps in Canada. I do live out west tho.

 

[vazel]

Odd, if I wanted I could get 25Mbps in Canada. I do live out west tho.

But isn't that with a download cap. That's why I'm never impressed when people talk about the download speeds in other western countries because most of the time it comes with a download cap. I'd rather have 6Mbps uncapped than 30Mbps with a cap. The thing that impresses me with the speeds in Japan and Korea is that IIRC they are uncapped.

 

[rainz]

Odd, if I wanted I could get 25Mbps in Canada. I do live out west tho.

for 150$/month ?

 

[AlphaWolf]

But isn't that with a download cap. That's why I'm never impressed when people talk about the download speeds in other western countries because most of the time it comes with a download cap. I'd rather have 6Mbps uncapped than 30Mbps with a cap. The thing that impresses me with the speeds in Japan and Korea is that IIRC they are uncapped.

There's no cap. I wouldn't doubt there's some packet shaping going on at their end however. I've never downloaded more then 50GB in a month myself tho, and nothing near that recently. I've always gotten full speed on my 5Mbps, I've been using the same service for ~15 years now (although I think it started out as 1Mbps).

for 150$/month ?

$93.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

But isn't that with a download cap. That's why I'm never impressed when people talk about the download speeds in other western countries because most of the time it comes with a download cap. I'd rather have 6Mbps uncapped than 30Mbps with a cap. The thing that impresses me with the speeds in Japan and Korea is that IIRC they are uncapped.

Atleast not in Holland. 20mbps for 25 euro's a month uncapped (everything is uncapped here).

But governments should stimulate things like this more. Problem is often they cant even if they wanted. THe dutch government for example is not allowed to pay for giving us a nice fibre network (in most places the cabels are there already, only the connection from the street to the house needs to be made) because the EU does not allow the government to be involved in things like this. It should all be done by companies. They are doing that now, but ofcourse its not going that fast as its expansive and there really isnt that much use for it here as we almost dont have any HD stuff on tv anyway.

But some countries also have problems like distance. In amerika and canada people are alot more spread around so per person it will be much more expensive to build a fibre network. Unlike Japan where 1/3 of the population is living in the Tokyo area so that is really densly populated.

 

[pjbliverpool]

That's why more than necessary for live 1080p content (unless you're talking uncompressed...). Bluray has a limit of 54 mbps and I don't think any broadcast standard currently in use will ever use more than 20 mbps. So a 100 mbps connection should be good enough for a couple of simultaneous HD streams already.

Cool! Although you only get 1/10th the download speed of your actualy connection speed (in my experience anyway).

So a 1Gb connection might net you 100Mb download speeds. Still enough for 4 simultaneous broadcast quality streams which bags of bandwidth left over!

 

[BRiT]

Cool! Although you only get 1/10th the download speed of your actualy connection speed (in my experience anyway).

That's a shame you have such a bad experience. I have a 20mbit connection and I get 20mbit download speeds. I get 100% of my speed for downloads when paired up with a capable content provider.

 

[Natoma]

But isn't that with a download cap. That's why I'm never impressed when people talk about the download speeds in other western countries because most of the time it comes with a download cap. I'd rather have 6Mbps uncapped than 30Mbps with a cap. The thing that impresses me with the speeds in Japan and Korea is that IIRC they are uncapped.

I have 50mb/20mb FTTH from Verizon and it's uncapped. $94/month after taxes.

 

[AlNom]

There's no cap.

hm... Shaw's site says 150GB/mo data transfer. Unless I'm missing something? With their pricing, their 10Mb/s offering seems to be the better option though (100GB/mo, $43/mo). I wonder when/how/if they'll switch to fibre optic. It'll be quite a massive undertaking, I presume.

 

[pjbliverpool]

That's a shame you have such a bad experience. I have a 20mbit connection and I get 20mbit download speeds. I get 100% of my speed for downloads when paired up with a capable content provider.

Blimey, I thought 1/10 was just a standard thing (maybe it is in the UK). Certainly every connection i have ever tested was getting about 1/10th over here.

Anyone else in the UK doing better and if so, was ISP are you using?

I'm on Sky for the record but it was the same with BT and this is across 3 different houses.

 

[DudeMiester]

Fucking japan. getting all the cool shit while the rest of teh world is stuck with (relative) crap. Seriously though I have to give it to the Canadian government for keeping our country on par with Pakistan in terms of broadband penetration. I don't think there's many developed countries left where the fastest connection you can get tops out at around ~7mbps (I'm in Toronto). It pisses me off to no end, I've had similar net performance since about 1999 and it seems like nobody here cares either. When I moved into my new place the net that was provided with the house was a 5mbps line that was split between 8!!! different houses (23 people). Fucking crazy. And apparently that's actually acceptable for the vast majority of the tenants in these units I'm living in. crazy shit I tell u.

You can get 18Mbit from Rogers for $100/month in Toronto actually, and Bell has a 16Mbit service for $78/month, and Cogeco has something similar to Bell. Still it's bloody expensive, so I stick with my 10Mbit Rogers service at $50/month. In your case, you could get one of the WiMax services available, which cover most of southern Ontario at least. Both Rogers and Bell offer 3Mbit WiMax connections (although with rogers you have to get a business account), but at least it would be all to yourself.