Americans have plenty to gloat about when it comes to technology, but other countries are putting our internet services to shame.
That would include Japan, whose Nippon Telegraph and Telephone corporations (NTT East, NTT West) have just announced a 10 Gbps upgrade for its “FLET’S Hikari” optical broadband service. It costs only $55 a month.
That’s an incredible deal compared to what America’s most popular ISPs are charging: AT&T ($70/mo. for 1 Gbps), Comcast Xfinity ($299.95/mo. for 2 Gbps), Cox ($99.99/mo. for 940 Mbps), Spectrum ($109.99/mo. for 940 Mbps), and Verizon ($79.99/mo. for 940 Mbps).
In its news release, NTT defended the need for these ludicrous broadband speeds due to the proliferation of UHD video, which requires a lot more bandwidth, as well as modern games.
“Recently, customers need large-capacity data communication due to the high quality of video contents such as high-definition 4K / 8K video and the spread of new experiences using online games and xR (VR, AR, MR) technology. Opportunities to use the service are increasing. “
NTT warns that the actual transmission speed is 10 percent lower than the advertised number due to technical quirks (e.g., “data necessary for ensuring communication quality”), but that’s still a heck of a lot faster than what the average user has over here.