The Need* for Globalized Speed

Broadband is getting faster and cheaper every day so it surprises me when I try to share this information with Masaki and he continually resists, saying, "I'm not interested; dial up is fine for me." It's funny because broadband these days in Japan is cheaper than dialup. In addition to that, it doesn't tie up the phone lines. There are plenty of times I want to call Masaki, but I can't because he keeps his cell phone off unless he goes grocery shopping, and when he is online, he is using up the phone line so I get a busy signal. I also know that part of this reason is that he doesn't want to be "bothered" with having to learn something new or to have to make "chchch changes" to his world. That puts him in a discomfort zone as I have seen in the past.

He doesn't use his computer or the internet all that often which again seems unusual to me in our day and age. I can see so many ways he can improve his business utilizing the power of the net, but he doesn't want to. And when I have tried to show him how in the past, I watch his eyes "glass over" and see him "tune out" and "go analog" on me. In fact, yesterday during our ride, he said he would love to just go into the mountains and live where there was no net access, no electricity, no nothing.

And you know what? I believe him because he has continually refused to consider upgrading the family internet to a faster, cheaper system; he just does not care about that stuff. Even his parents have thought it might be a good idea, but as he is the "chonan", the elder son, I guess they let him make the decisions now, as is often the way here in traditional Japan. He checks his email about once a month, IF I am lucky so I don't bother sending anything via email to him anymore as I always have to follow it up with a call... "go check your email".

Maybe having no girlfriend, living with your mother and father, brother and sister, and working with mom and dad in the same house (at 38) all the time does that to you. Maybe he needs no further outside contact other than his six mountain bikes and the dirt that his tires kiss... Maybe he's just like that...

I, however, LOVE being on the cusp of technology and am always investing in newer, faster computer-related "tools" because for me, it is a form of communication that I love to embrace. I love how we are progressing with the advances of instand broadband communication. Of course I am not blind to the terrible side effects that the local communities are suffering due to the global "reaching out". There is a flip side to the wonders of our current internet advances. That aside...

I recently switched my broadband from Yahoo! BB ADSL 50MB (agent of Softbank internet services), to Nexys BB ADSL 50MB (agent of Softbank inernet services). It's weird... The system, the lines, everything are exactly the same. Even the new router that arrived came from Softbank and looks exactly like the old one (just a slightly newer model). The tech support line dials into Softbank with Nexys.BB just as it did for Yahoo! BB.

At first I wondered what the REAL difference is beside from the price. So I called Softbank to ask if they had some hidden deal that would give me the same price Nexys was offering compared to what I was paying Yahoo/Softbank for the same service.

The answer?

There was absolutely nothing different in the service, other than the price.

And it is a LARGE difference in price.

I don't agree with "price hopping" as it loses me a lot of business in my work when the Chinese companies go to someone else because it's a bit cheaper and expect me to lower my prices to the other competition if I want to keep the job. I won't because I know how much effort, time and (cost) goes into providing that extra support, and service. And because I believe in this, even if a price is higher, if I can get better service I will stick with a "provider" of the service, or product.

Think of it like buying a new bra, ladies... You can go to Wal-Mart and get your $11.99 bra that gives you some so-so support for a little while (but may be made in China with who-knows-what kind of metals and materials), or you can go to Victoria's Secret and get the latest, most technical bra-tanktop for $49.95 and have years of amazing support, comfort and versatility.

Well, I did my due diligence, and I switched because the only difference was Yahoo!BB @ JPY 4500/mo vs. Nexyz.BB @ JPY 2950/mo. That's a surprising difference considering they both are agents of Softbank selling the exact same service utilizing the exact same lines crossing the country. It's baffling, really...

It turns out that I was really fortunate to have this chance come upon me. We have two phone numbers to this home, one that I had registered with Yahoo!BB and was using for my fax line only, and the other which was just a phone line. Had I only had one number I would not have been eligible for this campaign because the service agreements state that you cannot switch to another provider during the first six months of your contract without being penalized by having to pay the original "up to three months of free service" (not included in the six month promise) that was part of the enticing sign-up marketing ploy.

But, since I have another line, I was able to sign up with Nexyz.BB on the phone line, cancel the Yahoo!BB service on the other line, and get up and running in no time flat!

All I needed to do was unplug one router, and plug the other one (that looks the same, but has a different number) in. And everything is running like a charm.

You know how ADSL works, right? It sounds GREAT but it depends upon where you are actually located because the closer you are to the "box" where the phone lines all meet up (the circuit box?) in the neighbourhood, the better your speed, and the further away you are, the slower it is. In most cases, apparently 50MB refers to the download speed that is the ideal maximum, but in most cases the actual speed is between 5-10MB. For upload, it is dramatically slower (did you know that?) Usually the 50MB ADSL services offer between 0.5 - 2MB of actual upload speed depending upon how far away you are from that "box" somewhere in the neighbourhood.

We are quite close so are quite lucky, actually and our speeds seem to be about 14MB download speed and 1.5MB upload speed.

Of course this is piddly compared to those who are on a cable connection, because cable gives you exactly what you pay for without any dilution due to distance from the "box". But cable is usually more expensive. Right now in Japan the "fibre optic" lines (cable lines) run at about JPY 7500 ($75) per month for 100MB of speed. But in addition to that, you need to pay for the cable channels, and all that other stuff so it does add up. I'm not quite ready for that since I have no interest in watching TV so it would be a waste for me to pay for TV just to get faster internet.

I am quite happy with this speed and access we have here in my little village of 3,000 people. It suits my needs exceedingly well.

I know that many of you have cable lines, some are on ADSL, and some still use "squirreloptics" for your dial up. I would be curious to hear how your internet connection fares with a speedtest. Why don't you log into Speedtest.net and let me know how well you fare? I'd really like to kow what it's like out there in the rest of the world.

Here is Speedtest.net result:

 

In addition to this switch, what I was able to do was cancel the second phone line that was for a fax-only line (and the ADSL internet line), and use the BBPhone (IP phone) that comes with it as my fax! I can also use it as a fax/phone so that people can call me on that new 050- number or fax and it is actually cheaper from anywhere in the world (ask your local carrier how much to call a 050 internet phone number in Japan if you want to see the difference for comparison to the regular rates for an 0776 number issued by NTT). So I cancelled the second line yesterday and that also saves us an additional JPY 1600 per month! All in all, by making this shift, we will be getting the exact same service, but saving JPY 3000 (about USD $30) a month on communication charges. And I like that!

Use some of that bandwidth you have to spread the Globalized Love! I love the communication we all have via mail, chat, voice, blog, and mind. I appreciate this connection because it brings me all closer to you! And I cherish that! Thank you for being in my life!

Have a great evening, night, morning or afternoon where ever you may be, and NetSpeed to you!

I love you!

Cam

* This is, of course, not a "need" but a "want"; however, "The Want for Globalized Speed" sounds really really dumb...