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Comment Hmmm. (Score -1, Flamebait) 286

They probably brought in the Indian workers because they wanted the installation to be done quickly and without screw ups and mistakes, instead of by people with their noses stuck in their smartphone 24/7 tweeting, Instragramming, texting, taking selfies, sleeping, smoking pot, taking 2 hour breaks, too fat to bend down, 40% rate of disability claims and unable to come to work because they're having an anxiety attack about their auntie in Buffalo being scared by a spider...

Comment Here's another idea... (Score 4, Informative) 243

How about the ISP's spend a little money to give Americans a first world infrastructure?

I live in Japan and have 200Mps fiber with no caps for about the price of two pizzas per month. I've had at least 100Mps fiber (or 45Mps ADSL) for over ten years. I had 50 Mps fiber in 2000.

No, I don't live in the middle of a big city. I've lived in the suburbs no different than any suburban area or small city in the US, I've lived in the countryside for a year with no fiber, but had 45Mps about eight years ago.

And don't come back with the "US is too biiiiig!" excuse. You have electricity, water and gas, don't you? How did you get that if the area you live in is "Too biiiig!" The density where I live is no more than a place like Nashville, or Arlington Heights, or Jacksonville, or Albuquerque, or Portland, or Anytown, USA.

How did I get reasonable cost, high-speed fiber? Competition. There are no exclusive franchises or politicians controlling the internet business. Companies invested in infrastructure and competed to win customers with better and faster service with lower pricing. Most areas are now wired for 1Gps, and will be opened when the time comes to fill that bandwidth.

Your politicians and unelected regulatory gangs, er, agencies have hoodwinked you into forgetting that investment into infrastructure is amortized and not a fixed cost forever. Price should be going down and service should be better and faster... and ISP's would still be making mountains of money.

I doubt it's going to change, but I do wish you had options and at least 2nd-world service.

Comment Re:The world's most protectionist economy (Score 3, Interesting) 113

Sorry, but it is not "patriotic duty." I've lived in Japan for over 20 years and most markets are not locked up. There is a sense of community in Japan. Patriotism is not teary-eyed nonsense looking at a colored cloth. It's a sense of living within a society and doing things that benefit a society that's been around for over 1,200 years.

Japan is small, has no resources, half the population of the US packed into a place the size of California. Police don't kill people and a convenience store robbery (no one gets hurt) is national news.

The used book business in Japan is huge. People read in Japan; they like books and magazines. They like the touch of paper. It's the most widely read population in the world. People stand at bookstores and read and read and read. The pricing model assures that small publishers exist and a wide variety of books and authors can be published. They are not all gobbled up by conglomerates.

Japan can do business in Japan however it chooses.

Comment And Outside the U.S. (Score 4, Interesting) 347

I'm moving and my new place has 200Mbps down/100Mbps up fiber, so that's an upgrade from the 100Mbps I've had for about 15 years. And the price is going down to about US$38/month. Not bad, huh? I could choose 1 Gbps, since everywhere has been upgraded with it for years now, but it would only be useful for content inside the country. The infrastructure is far more advanced than the U.S.

Of course there are no caps and no provider-conspired speed throttling. I've never had a provider-caused outage in 20 years of internet service.

That's that service level and pricing that competition has created over time in Japan. I'm in a small town, so don't even think about the "U.S. is too big" reply. Every time I go the U.S. I'm shocked at the level of service. You are really under the thumb of the internet provider mafia.

You need to vote in representatives that will actually to start representing you. I don't see any hope for you without that.

Comment I've Lived in Japan for 20+ Years . . . (Score 1) 283

I couldn't even begin to comment on all of the misinformation and wrong assumptions posted.

Suffice it to say that the Japan has existed as an entity for well over 1,200 years and the stories about the future "last Japanese person alive" probably started with the first written records of Japan.

Japan has survived events that ended other civilizations, so they will find a way to survive and thrive with less people.

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