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1. Wrong. Completely wrong. Internet is cheaper and much, much faster in many other countries. And many of those countries are rolling out FTTH/FTTN as we speak

1. Wrong. Completely wrong. Internet is cheaper and much, much faster in many other countries. And many of those countries are rolling out FTTH/FTTN as we speak e.g. Australia. 2. True but a bit irrelevant. The reason the US is the capital of the tech world is 110% due to the success of the VC industry. It is so flush with cash (from its previous successes) that it can reinvest in whole rafts of companies to create tomorrow's successes. It's very much self perpetuating.

detst 14y ago
>> 2. The university endowment system combined with some of the greatest research institutions on the planet created the tech VC system that fuelled the growth of Silicon Valley. > 2. True but a bit irrelevant. > [...] US is the capital of the tech world is 110% due to the success of the VC industry. Are you disagreeing just to disagree? How is the thing you're giving "110%" of the credit irrelevant? Access to money doesn't create success and without success that money would just go somewhere else. You can't seriously give it "110%" of the credit without looking at the reasons for the VC system and the underlying factors of the success.
- taligent 14y ago
  I meant the quality of the universities. It might have been important decades ago but it isn't the reason Silicon Valley is the centre of IT today. It's because of (a) money and (b) willingness of VCs to take chances and invest in companies with 23 year old CEOs and vague business plans. That sort of thing just doesn't happen anywhere else.
latch 14y ago
Yes, I'm so glad I have 1000 mbps line so that I can play games at > 200ms ping and watch stuttering movies. It isn't wrong to say that the internet is faster in the US as long as so many sites/services are hosted in the US.
- taligent 14y ago
  You seem to be confusing latency with bandwidth. Being far from the servers makes a difference for gaming and maybe everyday browsing. But for streaming bandwidth is what is important. Also most sites use CDNs e.g. Akamai, Cloudfront which have content cached pretty close to the user.
  - latch 14y ago
    I'm not confusing them. It's more than just latency and bandwidth..it's about peering and routes. By the time I hit US East from Asia, I'm doing typical ADSL speeds...same (or worse) with Europe. Also, citation needed for your last point. Most sites? I'd be surprised if it was 1%.
jrockway 14y ago
1. Wrong. Completely wrong. He's talking about prices ISPs pay, not prices consumers pay.
malandrew 14y ago
Exactly. Near as I can tell, internet cost-to-bandwidth is pretty much a function of affluence and population density. The US, while affluent, has a low population density. High speed internet isn't that expensive. Getting people connected to that high speed internet is.

detst 14y ago

>> 2. The university endowment system combined with some of the greatest research institutions on the planet created the tech VC system that fuelled the growth of Silicon Valley. > 2. True but a bit irrelevant. > [...] US is the capital of the tech world is 110% due to the success of the VC industry. Are you disagreeing just to disagree? How is the thing you're giving "110%" of the credit irrelevant? Access to money doesn't create success and without success that money would just go somewhere else. You can't seriously give it "110%" of the credit without looking at the reasons for the VC system and the underlying factors of the success.

taligent 14y ago
I meant the quality of the universities. It might have been important decades ago but it isn't the reason Silicon Valley is the centre of IT today. It's because of (a) money and (b) willingness of VCs to take chances and invest in companies with 23 year old CEOs and vague business plans. That sort of thing just doesn't happen anywhere else.

latch 14y ago

Yes, I'm so glad I have 1000 mbps line so that I can play games at > 200ms ping and watch stuttering movies. It isn't wrong to say that the internet is faster in the US as long as so many sites/services are hosted in the US.

taligent 14y ago
You seem to be confusing latency with bandwidth. Being far from the servers makes a difference for gaming and maybe everyday browsing. But for streaming bandwidth is what is important. Also most sites use CDNs e.g. Akamai, Cloudfront which have content cached pretty close to the user.
- latch 14y ago
  I'm not confusing them. It's more than just latency and bandwidth..it's about peering and routes. By the time I hit US East from Asia, I'm doing typical ADSL speeds...same (or worse) with Europe. Also, citation needed for your last point. Most sites? I'd be surprised if it was 1%.

jrockway 14y ago

1. Wrong. Completely wrong. He's talking about prices ISPs pay, not prices consumers pay.

malandrew 14y ago

Exactly. Near as I can tell, internet cost-to-bandwidth is pretty much a function of affluence and population density. The US, while affluent, has a low population density. High speed internet isn't that expensive. Getting people connected to that high speed internet is.