All New Homes In China Must Have Fiber Optic Internet Connections 202
redletterdave writes "Only a small number of U.S. cities can boast fiber optic connections, but in China, it's either fiber or bust. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has now ordered all newly built residences to install fiber optic connections in any city or county 'where a public fiber optic telecom network is available.' The new standards will take effect starting on April 1, 2013, and residents will be able to choose their own ISP with equal connections to services. The Chinese government reportedly hopes to have 40 million families connected to fiber networks by 2015."
Sounds good (Score:5, Insightful)
in any city or county 'where a public fiber optic telecom network is available.'
Any how many of these houses will meet that rather essential qualification?
Hell, I could install a fiber network in my house and run it out to the curb. But that isn't going to make any difference if there is nothing to connect it to, now is it?
Re:Sounds Too Good to Be True ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sounds Too Good to Be True ... (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree with your skepticism. I think the bigger question is what's the politburo is trying to accomplish as a whole--not just with the internet. I think what people have to understand is that every company in China is owned by the communist government--whether covertly or overtly, just look at who founded Huawei for an example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren_Zhengfei). China is slowly taking over the general aviation businesses in the US either by buying them out or requiring that that a China-based company be a partner to sell aircraft in China--just look at Cessna's LSA plan for example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_162#Chinese_production_controversy).
meaningless (Score:5, Insightful)
Duh. if the network IS AVAILABLE of course it will be installed. The cost is negligible if you do it with the other services.
This is just some bureaucrats trying to take credit for something that's already happening.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Sounds Too Good to Be True ... (Score:3, Insightful)
The big joke though, is that even if you get fiber to the home, you only get 20 Mbits down, and ... tadaaaa ... 512 Kbits up! For that kind of connectivity, using fiber is overly stupid. ADSL is enough.
And in ten years when you want to upgrade you would have to install fiber in every house. By install fiber in the houses you only need to upgrade the connection to the house later.
Going for ADSL directly only makes sense if you plan to tear the house down within ten years.
Re:Sounds Too Good to Be True ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Too bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Advantages of Authoritarianism (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry. Manipulation of the government is not capitalism.
Re:Sounds Too Good to Be True ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, famous Chinese gulags! Thats why they have 121 prisoners per 100 000 population, while in truly democratic US... Wait, OH SHI.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate [wikipedia.org]