Monday, January 10, 2011

Broadband = Broadband or not

I have in the beginning of this year tried to learn more about services in Norway regarding IKT-communication speed, (Broadband,  Wireless network (WiFi), Routers, Airport base stations, etc.) .
The marketing data presented by various Internet service providers, through phone-lines, mobile network (3G, 4G) and through the digital cables by TV-suppliers, are sometimes difficult to understand and almost impossible to compare when it goes on performance / prizes for me.
Being an "ordinary" user (although started with EDP (now IT) in the late 60s), but with more than one laptop and several iPhones in the apartment, I must say that it is difficult to find out the perfect choice.

I started to use Internet in Singapore late 1994. When the Apple / Mac world arrived to my home in 2002 I quite soon discovered the Domino effect; Laptops, Digital cameras, Smart-phones, Extended range, Wireless printing, continuous upgrading and new models, etc.
The Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station helped a lot, and this week a new router delivered by my TV cable supplier (GET) improved my communication to Internet through my HD PVR-box.
The Norwegian (governmental decision) definition of Broadband is (my translation):
Wireless Broadband is defined as an access capacity in which the end user, wireless connected to a public mobile network or a public fixed network, gets access to datatransfer services with a perceived bit rate of at least 640 kbit / sec downstream and 128 kbit /sec upstream.
I am not a politician, but this definition must be a joke, and a way to define themselves out of troubles because they have promised everybody in the country "Broadband".

GET CEO Gunnar Evensen tells Broadband TV News that
The Norwegian Government has a stated goal that everyone in Norway should have access to super-broadband. Cable technology is the most important platform for ultra-broadband in Norway, and Get is able to deliver high-speed broadband to one million Norwegians.
In UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt tells BBC News that
the government had abandoned the plans of the former administration that promised 2 megabits per second broadband for all by 2012, he said: "It's silly to hang your hat on a speed like two meg when the game is changing the whole time.

He added: "What we've said is that just giving people two meg is not enough, what people use the internet for is changing the whole time."
I have the last years used a measured speed of 8Mb/s down and 0.6 Mb/s up. Now I have through GET tripled the performance. at almost the same prize. Will you follow?
Ps:
I am not paid for this recommendation. At least not for the time being.

No comments:

Post a Comment