It’s easy to see Google Fiber’s burgeoning gigabit Internet service as a harbinger of a new era in the US. Certainly, with average speeds of 7.2Mbps, 1Gbps is in a completely different league. But Japan doesn’t waste any time in reminding the world just how much better they have it. Nuro, a service backed by Sony, has announced the availability of 2Gbps Internet down, with 1Gbps up. This would allow you to download pictures of cats in a fraction of time so small there’s likely no word for it.
And how much are the Japanese to pay for this otherworldly service? A price so high only the rich can afford? You know it’s cheap: “Nuro charges ¥4,980 (US$51) a month on a two-year contract, but there’s a steep ¥52,500 (US$535) installation fee that is currently waived for those who apply online.”
I knew we always had the ability to have internet speeds in the stratosphere. The providers in the U.S. simply limit the speed so every six months they can release a new ‘faster’ internet and charge us a premium to get it. Sometimes capitalism isn’t what we necessarily need.
Great, so I can use up my 2GB monthly limit in ONE SECOND!
NO, the problem is, that the entire land area of Japan, would fit inside Texas & California, with a little left over. If the entire population of the USA would fit inside such a land area, we would have super speed also, as it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge to “string cable” to that limited amount of land area.
Land area of Japan = 377,000+ sq miles Land area of USA = 3,536,000+ sq miles