Reboot Alberta

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Top Ten Countries for Internet Speed.

Here are the Top Ten countries for Internet speed:

1. South Korea; 2. Japan; 3. Hong Kong; 4. Romania 5. Sweden 6. Switzerland 7. Holland 8. Belgium 9. Slovakia 10. Norway.

Why isn't Canada on this list? Why isn't Canada even more wired into small towns and rural areas?

What is more, where is Alberta on this Top Ten list of Internet Speed? We have the SuperNet but is has not lived up to its potential for speed or distribution to Albertans.

It is time to get serious about realizing the potential of the Alberta SuperNet. It is a 21st century infrastructure but stuck in a mid-20th century political mindset. We need SuperNet access for every Albertan and the "last mile" to rural communities must be solved too. We can do all this without anymore delay or capital costs.

The key to making that happen is the good old fashioned telephone lines that exist all over Alberta now. What that takes is Telus seeing the business case to provide this infrastructure. Telus has not been inclined to provide access to their copper wire so now the matter is before the CRTC and a decision is expected soon.

If the CRTC directs Telus to provide Albertans access to the copper wire phone lines then Alberta citizens, organizations and businesses can get fibre-quality connectivity to the SuperNet. That is a game changer and can put Alberta on the Top Ten list of high speed Internet access.

Stay tuned to this blog for more developments.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:27 pm

    Ken,

    Not too sure about this list. ...and perhaps speed is not the correct measure....

    My experience in Slovakia is that internet access is extremely limited, but expanding each year... most points of access are businesses (no or not many 'hot spots' very limited if any home access).

    Swiss experience is that access is much more available and in homes as well as businesses, but home costs start at about Cnd$ 1,000.00/month.... again, I found very few if any, 'hot spots' or free access points... all access points were related to some commercial transaction.

    Holland and Belgium... similar... to Swiss but no idea on costs....

    No experience with the other countries...

    So at a guess I would say that perhaps Canadian businesses have similar speeds to the other countries and have more home access... but that home access may be pulling our average speed down.... but we have more overall access.

    Comments?

    greengirl

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  2. Anonymous12:31 pm

    The idea of "net neutrality" is ridiculous. Providers should be allowed to govern themselves in a free market!

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  3. Anonymous4:18 pm

    You really think Telus gives two hoots about helping the SuperNet after they were shut out of the original contract? At the last minute the deal was given to Bell & Axia, who had to lease a ton of dark fibre from Telus to make SuperNet happen anyways. Unfortunately the carrier to carrier lease rates forced by the CRTC are extremely punative for the incumbent providers, so Bell gets big cash from the Government to use Telus equipment, and Telus gets little or no profit for its capital investments (AND has to provide repair service to Bell that would exceed Bell's own repair speed for their customers down east).

    I suspect Telus will do as little as possible to help the GOA with their "Supernet".

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  4. I am an indian i was read the article In that i read the Top 10 countries for High speed.But india is not in the List.Because of the Low speed connection.One must test the Connection speed then purchase the Connection after purchasing the service also it is necessary to check the speed.Using the speed Test site Check the Speed of the Internet.

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  5. Anonymous8:03 pm

    "My experience in Slovakia is that internet access is very limited..." You must be joking right? Limited access to internet? Have you ever been to Slovakia? I live there so I know what I am talking about. Basically everyone has access to internet in Slovakia. Every single bigger city in Slovakia is connected to the optic network (Provided by Orange or T-mobile) with speeds up to 70mbs/s with unlimited data plan for very good price. If your location is unsupported you can get DSL internet anywhere with speed up to 12mbs/s for bargain price. You also have access to 3G mobile network in every city and also on highways and major roads so you can browse the net anywhere with speed of 7,2mbs/s. Slovakia is a dream country for internet and definitely belongs to that top 10 list.

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