From today's Globe and Mail.
jwm
Now that's real high-speed
Mathew Ingram, today at 10:38 AM EDT
Canadians are doing better than lots of other countries when it comes to high-speed or broadband Internet access. According to the latest stats from the OECD, about 22 per cent of the Canadian population has a high-speed connection, compared with just 16.8 per cent of the U.S., putting us in the top 10 worldwide. Many cable and phone companies, however, define high-speed as anything over 512 kilobytes per second, even though die-hard Internet users know that such speeds are closer to today's equivalent of dial-up. The average in Canada is probably between 1 and 3 megabits per second in major centres, although higher speeds can be found if you use Cogeco (10 megabits) or Videotron in Quebec (which just launched 16 mbps service).
If you want real high-speed, you apparently have to live in Paris. France Telecom is rolling out a trial of "fiber-to-the-home" service, which offers speeds of up to 2.5 gigabits per second (that's 2,500 megabits) and provides digital television, unlimited phone calls and broadband Internet access. All that for the equivalent of $88 (U.S.) a month. That includes installation of all the equipment and the first two months of service are free. And France already has fairly speedy access: France Telecom's regular Internet service officers speeds of 18 megabits per second for about $50 a month, and its competitor Iliad offers unlimited phone calls, digital TV and Internet access for $40 a month and recently announced it would boost speeds to 28 megabits per second.
And somewhere in Canada, an Internet user paying $50 a month for "high-speed" and getting 500 kilobits per second is quietly crying.
jwm
Now that's real high-speed
Mathew Ingram, today at 10:38 AM EDT
Canadians are doing better than lots of other countries when it comes to high-speed or broadband Internet access. According to the latest stats from the OECD, about 22 per cent of the Canadian population has a high-speed connection, compared with just 16.8 per cent of the U.S., putting us in the top 10 worldwide. Many cable and phone companies, however, define high-speed as anything over 512 kilobytes per second, even though die-hard Internet users know that such speeds are closer to today's equivalent of dial-up. The average in Canada is probably between 1 and 3 megabits per second in major centres, although higher speeds can be found if you use Cogeco (10 megabits) or Videotron in Quebec (which just launched 16 mbps service).
If you want real high-speed, you apparently have to live in Paris. France Telecom is rolling out a trial of "fiber-to-the-home" service, which offers speeds of up to 2.5 gigabits per second (that's 2,500 megabits) and provides digital television, unlimited phone calls and broadband Internet access. All that for the equivalent of $88 (U.S.) a month. That includes installation of all the equipment and the first two months of service are free. And France already has fairly speedy access: France Telecom's regular Internet service officers speeds of 18 megabits per second for about $50 a month, and its competitor Iliad offers unlimited phone calls, digital TV and Internet access for $40 a month and recently announced it would boost speeds to 28 megabits per second.
And somewhere in Canada, an Internet user paying $50 a month for "high-speed" and getting 500 kilobits per second is quietly crying.
