The Internet has ushered in an era of largely unfettered access to a wide variety of information. Yet, although so much of what the Internet has to offer is gratis, access to the Internet itself has never been free. This dichotomy lies at the heart of the prolonged and hairy "net neutrality" debate over what Internet service providers (ISPs) should charge for their services and what role those companies should play in managing the flow of information over their infrastructures.

Flat-rate versus tiered-pricing structures, data equality versus prioritized content—the arguments rage on in the U.S. with no end in sight, even as other high-tech countries, South Korea in particular, claim to successfully moved beyond the issue.

Full speed ahead in South Korea
South Korea, regarded as the world's leading country in terms of making high-speed broadband Internet access available to its 50 million citizens, offers basic and premium network access to broadband subscribers, Tae-Yol Yoo, executive vice president of Korea Telecom (KT), said October 15 during a telecommunications forum The State of Telecom—2010 at Columbia University in New York City. "If somebody wants to load some premium content (such as a video), they can do it on the premium network," he said. "Of course, they pay for it."

Net neutrality (flat-rate pricing and equal priority status given to all data) was not a successful business model for KT, Yoo said. KT tried usage-based pricing, where subscribers paid for the amount of bandwidth they consumed, but abandoned that effort two years ago, in part because 5 percent of Internet users in that country were hogging 50 percent of all Internet bandwidth. These super users were slowing down traffic for everyone else, making other customers less likely to use (and pay for) Internet access.

Instead KT separated its Internet backbone into a premium service that functions like a fast-paced superhighway for video, multimedia and other heavy traffic, and a basic service for most normal users. As the name would imply, premium customers pay more for use of the service. In return, KT assures them that it will provide data transfers at a particular speed.

The cost of KT's premium service? Roughly $28 per month. Yoo said his company must keep prices low due to competition from the country's two other major telecommunications companies.

South Korea has ranked first for the past three years in global broadband quality surveys conducted jointly by the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School and Cisco Systems, the latest of which was released last week. Nearly 100 percent of the country's 16.7 million households are broadband subscribers. More than 80 percent of the country currently has access to broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second, Yoo said. Average speeds across the country, according to the Saïd–Cisco study, are 33 megabits-per-second for download and about 17 megabits-per-second for uploads.

The South Korean government is promising to deliver one gigabit-per-second network connection speeds for fixed-line (as opposed to wireless) broadband to every home within three years, according to Yoo. One way it plans to meet this lofty goal is to build out its fiber-optic infrastructure. Today, more than half of broadband lines are fiber-optic cable, the rest are slower copper wire. Another important component of South Korea's broadband delivery strategy (for both fixed lines and wireless) is to offload as much data traffic as possible from its main infrastructure onto microcell or femtocell networks located in homes and local businesses.

Stuck in neutral
In the U.S., where the net neutrality debate is still very much alive, about 75 percent of households have a broadband connection and those connections have average download speeds of about 9.6 megabits per second and upload speeds of about two megabits per second, according to the Saïd–Cisco study. (A study released in September by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, or GAO, estimated that more than 90 percent of U.S. households have broadband access.) Either way, both studies rank the U.S. 15th among developed nations in terms of universal broadband access.

The U.S.'s performance is the result of a number of factors, not the least of which is the country's physical size. The U.S. has more broadband subscriber lines than any other country, but it also has a lot more territory to cover than Japan, which is number two in terms of broadband subscriber lines, according to the GAO report. Japan, however, is about the size of California. Likewise, top-ranked South Korea's infrastructure needs to cover a landmass only slightly larger than Indiana.

22 Comments

1. 1. dbtinc 12:49 PM 10/26/10

   $28 a month for Premium service!? And here in the US, we are ripped off for $50 a month for much slower access. Yep, slowly but surely we are slipping into third world status.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. yrral86 01:08 PM 10/26/10

   $50 a month? I pay $73. But, they have 3 carriers... I only have one option. Hooray for regional monopolies!

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. yrral86 01:09 PM 10/26/10

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. Zog469 01:54 PM 10/26/10

   Not only do we pay more, have fewer choices (regional monopolies, as yrral86 stated), but to top it off...slower speeds. Talk about the US consumer being ripped off.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. candide in reply to Zog469 02:23 PM 10/26/10

   All true, and embarrassing for the U.S.
   
   I have the highest speed I can get - 35Mbs symmetric (up & down). This would be 1/3 of what some other countries have, and I probably pay three times as much.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

6. 6. jtdwyer 02:52 PM 10/26/10

   It's a matter of economics an physical reality: it is more costly to provide high speed communications infrastructure to a large geographic region with low population density. Complain all you like, the real costs of high speed internet will be higher in the U.S. than smaller, denser countries like S. Korea and Japan. I can't guarantee that your provider isn't ripping you off, but don't compare them to those in S. Korea.
   
   Now, that one-world government could institute global cost-sharing for all internet access, charging a flat fee and providing regulated equal service for everyone, if that's what's most important in life...

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

7. 7. landonthegr8 in reply to jtdwyer 03:14 PM 10/26/10

   I agree not only with everyone else's posts, but I do see your point as well. That said.. in a capitalist environment where supply and demand are almost biblical, is there any excuse for these monopolistic companies not providing the services people want at a fair price? I doubt it very much. This country started the internet, and there is no excuse for the lack of options to choose ISP's, lack of bandwidth, and the ever increasing prices for mediocrity.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

8. 8. yrral86 03:41 PM 10/26/10

   I'll acknowledge that population density has a lot to do with it. However, I have the feeling that the companies are approaching it like this: we can make 10% in NYC and stay competitive, so in WV we will set the prices to make 10% there too. If there was competition, they might accept 5% and still profit, but there is none. I guess I should just consider myself lucky that I can get decent broadband at all. My parents that live an hour away can only get satellite, with it's shitty latency and awesome 500MB/day cap. Want to download an iso of the new Ubuntu release? Ok, but you have to throttle it to download over 2 or 3 days so you can still use the internet for everything else you need to do. Competition is the only thing that separates capitalism from feudalism, and in WV internet service is a feudal system. Luckily, the internet isn't as crucial as land.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

9. 9. dbtinc in reply to jtdwyer 04:02 PM 10/26/10

   but doesn't that mean they have more customers to cover their costs? Don't blame in on the "one world" government, blame it on a US government more interested in protecting the best interests of Comcast and other major donors.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

10. 10. candide 04:05 PM 10/26/10

    Population density is certainly a factor, but I live in one of the most densely populated areas of the US - and until recently had a choice of one provider.
    
    I have a choice of two now (with very similar prices and very similar crappy customer service), but still have mediocre service when compared to some other countries, like the UK.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

11. 11. ruspert 04:35 PM 10/26/10

    If there is any way to speedup and refine the internet it is to stop spammers and spam along with the malware, virus & anti-virus industry. I can see the internet going nowhere with the present situation allowed to exist.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

12. 12. NHMountainMan 05:24 PM 10/26/10

    Much of internet traffic is caused by malware, virii and spam, "DOWNLOADED" from the internet on one way or form.
    
    How about implementing a spyware, antivirus, and malware gateway at every ISP? On connection or file / mail communications from the user to THEIR ISP, something should verify that the objects being transmitted are NOT a virus, malware, or spam. Presto.....clean internet....fast comm's, and everyone's happy.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

13. 13. Accountable 05:52 PM 10/26/10

    I agree that the US is a large and mass. But... 90% of what I get via email every day is neither requested nor desired. If people broke into my home, used my utilities, etc., they'd be jailed as common felons -- if they didn't get a case of lead poisoning first. Why do we continue to allow people to overload the internet and delay what we -- who pay for it -- want? And I do agree with multi-tiered plans. If you want to stare at movies all day long via the internet, you should pay a higher rate. Every day, I doubt more that my interests get any rcognition by the people making these decisions. Spammers and hackers? Jail them. Heavier users, charge them.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

14. 14. candide in reply to NHMountainMan 05:55 PM 10/26/10

    "How about implementing a spyware, antivirus, and malware gateway at every ISP?"
    ...
    Presto.....clean internet....fast comm's, and everyone's happy."
    
    If only it were that easy. Lots of problems with your suggestion:
    
    - Most of the stuff comes from individual machines, "bots", that are controlled. How about everyone have their own AV/Security software and and keep up-to-date on updates?
    - How about Operating systems be built without security vulnerabilities?
    - One persons SPAM is another's marketing email, who gets to draw the line?
    - Plus, the obvious, ISP's are selling services to spammers. Do YOU want to cut off paying customers?
    - Viruses and malware are difficult for even security vendors to identify, they are skillfully developed to look harmless.
    - FYI the #1 country that produces SPAM is the USA, followed by China and Brazil.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

15. 15. jtdwyer 06:36 PM 10/26/10

    My earlier comment seemed necessary to balance the discussion.
    
    I don't disagree with majority of the preceding comments, especially regarding the benefits of competition, but it won't help if the competitors can't (fairly) make a profit. My customer service is atrocious, too, and there's fiber to the home across the street from me but I can't get it because of some neighbors' credit ratings...
    
    My 'one world' remark was intended only to point out that if this is seem as a multinational 'fairness' issue there's really only one solution. Well, I guess we could bomb their internet, maybe using EMI?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

16. 16. jtdwyer 06:48 PM 10/26/10

    I do think there is a fundamental distinction between using internet bandwidth for enhanced communication and informational content, another of convenient personal access to movies.
    
    The video download business is a direct for-profit industry that is taking enormous advantage of the local 'free' bandwidth infrastructure. In my opinion such bulk data transfers could be identified and relegated to lower priority usage charge bandwidth partitions. In that way your neighbors movie rentals would not interfere with your quick searches, etc.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

17. 17. sethdayal 03:07 PM 10/27/10

    According to Time Warner their profit on broadband is over 3000% with their ancient antiquated cable equipment.
    
    http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/04/time-warner-c-1/
    
    Look at the chart from time warner's 2008 annual report 8.4 million customers, $4.2B revenue, costs $146M . Works out to a cost of a little over a buck a month a customer. When you look at the tiny bit of mass produced equipment required on top of existing , television, telephony applications it's easy to see why.
    
    Lots of room for a nonprofit or municipal utility to provide service at for a few bucks a month.
    
    Using public power infrastructure, a dirt cheap fiber to the block network could be installed in every city, town and village with wireless N 2/5 Ghz access points at each block node. From that block node, signal can be distributed via 1 GigE copper to most subscribers and fiber to the rare more distant ones.Portable users or folks who can't afford a wired connection can connect at 100+ Mbps with WiFi. Upfront costs would be around $30 per wireless user a $100 more for wired and a few $ monthly for O&M assuming universal access.
    
    The FCC now recognizes that low speed smart meters would be a component on the broadband network they envision. The small incremental cost of the high speed network over the low speed smart meter net power companies are planning, pays for broadband network for a extra few dollars a month per subscriber.
    
    Citizens could also do it for themselves with a cheap open-mesh router for $25 which lets them share their internet and secure the home network at the same time. The more plugged in, the more they mesh up. No fuss no programming just plug em in. Open-mesh allows restricting the amount of bandwidth available to neighbors. Contributors can also require logins, resell it if desired, restrict on mac addresses, and boot heavy users.
    
    Stick it to em folks.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

18. 18. jtdwyer 03:10 PM 10/27/10

    Some of the performance claims for other countries' service is not very realistic.
    
    A BBC article from 2007 reports that the advertised standard internet connection speeds, when tested by speedtest.net, generally produce dramatically lower speeds than advertised: clustered around 1-10Mbps:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7098992.stm
    
    Speedtest.net has their test rankings by country for both download and upload speeds. South Korea leads all download speeds at 34Mbps, followed by other relatively small (dense) countries as Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova, Andorra, Aland Islands, etc. The U.S. brings up the rear of their list at just over 10Mbps. Please see at:
    http://speedtest.net/global.php#0

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

19. 19. gmpurkat 04:57 PM 10/27/10

    The U.S. teleco's mismanaged their businesses..this, the associated "tech wreck" of circa 2000 and the financial crisis of 2008-2009 have left he U.S. unable to raise the capital necesssary to build out a robust internet infrastructure. This leaves us at a disctinct disadvantage in an intensely competitive global economic contest. Our short term orientation on things like the next quarters earning per share is/will cost us in the long term.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

20. 20. jtdwyer in reply to gmpurkat 05:58 PM 10/27/10

    Again, there is some validity in your comments, but do not ignore the inescapable reality that the per capita cost of providing high speed network infrastructure to a large geographically disperse population is fundamentally greater than a small country with a dense population.
    
    For geographic comparison purposes, the aforementioned Speedtest.net download speed rankings include:
    U.S. #29 @ 10.17 Mbps
    Russia #27 @ 11.36 Mbps
    China #80 @ 3.46 Mbps
    Argentina #96 @ 2.69 Mbps

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

21. 21. electric38 03:56 PM 10/28/10

    Just one more reason why why the average citizen needs to be using rooftop solar (and carports). This frees up energy use for data. As all educational resources go on-line, so will the need for language translation software and interactive media.
    
    http://www.allianceforrenewableenergy.org/2010/10/germany-adds-nearly-1-of-electricity-supply-with-solar-in-eight-months.html

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

22. 22. jtdwyer in reply to electric38 05:39 PM 10/28/10

    Somehow I fail to see how solar energy addresses internet service issues... Will it also mend my socks?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this