Finland Officially Becomes Awesome

[The Professor]

http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/domestic-news/politics/3179.html


The Finnish government said after an informal evening session on Wednesday that it would put in place measures to the effect that no household, bar about 2,000 in far-flung corners of the country, would be farther than two kilometres from a connection capable of delivering broadband internet with a capacity of at least 100 megabits of data a second.

Suvi Lindén (cons), the communications minister, said the broadband internet market had reached a point where new infrastructure would not necessarily be built on a purely commercial basis.

"The development of that infrastructure is to be guaranteed in a way that all members of the public and companies, regardless of location, will have an opportunity to use information society services," Ms Lindén added.

Harri Pursiainen, the permanent secretary at the transport and communications minister, said the 100 Mbit/s target was modest, adding households in Helsinki would have gigabit-range speeds at their disposal come 2015.
"Data connections are no longer entertainment but a necessity," Mr Pursiainen added.

"Regional, equal communications infrastructure will not come about without state action."
The government said it would discuss the funding of its broadband programme over the course of the autumn.

Essentially, at least 1MB broadband is becoming a legal right in Finland (in the same way that shelter, food and education are) and they're aiming to get everyone on 100MB by 2015 AT THE MINIMUM. I know there aren't many of them but still... I want it :(

[Laurensh1]

Lucky Finns!
Move to Finland.

[HotelUser]

Yeah I saw this. I wish Canada would do this:@.

[Blinger1]

Australia just needs to upgrade the whole internet networking altogether.

[efq]

*REMOVED*

[Xoim]

Omg.. A min off 100mb!?
-moves to finland :(

[StefanWolves]

Isn't there the same thing happening over here now? didn't the government want all households to have at least a 2MB connection by like 2020 or something? + it's easier for them to get faster connections everywhere, as they are a very small country. We will get 100mb lines here soon, VM are already capable of it, but don't want too yet, same with BT (who are both continually upgrading their wires).

[Flisker]

Isn't there the same thing happening over here now? didn't the government want all households to have at least a 2MB connection by like 2020 or something? + it's easier for them to get faster connections everywhere, as they are a very small country. We will get 100mb lines here soon, VM are already capable of it, but don't want too yet, same with BT (who are both continually upgrading their wires).
Its not all about country size, it's mainly to do with infrastructure age and investment to upgrade the infrastructure. The UK has one of the oldest infrastructures which will cost a lot more money to upgrade than other countries like Finland.

[StefanWolves]

Its not all about country size, it's mainly to do with infrastructure age and investment to upgrade the infrastructure. The UK has one of the oldest infrastructures which will cost a lot more money to upgrade than other countries like Finland.

That and the fact that the UK is 10x bigger in population and area? :P

[Flisker]

That and the fact that the UK is 10x bigger in population and area? :P
Finland:
Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area) - Total 338,424 km2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_E11_m%C2%B2) (64th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_tota l_area))
130,596 sq mi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_mile)
Population (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population) - 2009 estimate 5,346,927[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland#cite_note-Population_clock-0) (111th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population)) - 2000 census 5,180,000 - Density (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_density) 16/km2 (201st (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density))
40/sq mi

UK:
Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area) - Total 244,820 km2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_E11_m%C2%B2) (79th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_tota l_area))
94,526 sq mi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_mile)

Population (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population) - 2009 estimate 61,113,205[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom#cite_note-4) (22nd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population)) - 2001 census 58,789,194[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom#cite_note-5) - Density (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_density) 246/km2 (48th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density))
637/sq mi
UK may have more population but the UK is smaller than Finland so I have no idea where you got that from :P

[Jordy]

Finland have quite a task though, bare in mind the population is incredibly densely populated and in some very remote regions.

[StefanWolves]

Finland:
Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area) - Total 338,424 km2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_E11_m%C2%B2) (64th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_tota l_area))
130,596 sq mi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_mile)
Population (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population) - 2009 estimate 5,346,927[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland#cite_note-Population_clock-0) (111th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population)) - 2000 census 5,180,000 - Density (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_density) 16/km2 (201st (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density))
40/sq mi

UK:
Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area) - Total 244,820 km2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_E11_m%C2%B2) (79th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_tota l_area))
94,526 sq mi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_mile)

Population (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population) - 2009 estimate 61,113,205[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom#cite_note-4) (22nd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population)) - 2001 census 58,789,194[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom#cite_note-5) - Density (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_density) 246/km2 (48th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density))
637/sq mi
UK may have more population but the UK is smaller than Finland so I have no idea where you got that from :P

****ttt, just checked on Google maps, I always thought Finland was the small country next to Sweden, but I never new it was that big. Still, population is the main thing to do with it anyway. ;)

[Recursion]

****ttt, just checked on Google maps, I always thought Finland was the small country next to Sweden, but I never new it was that big. Still, population is the main thing to do with it anyway. ;)

In terms of getting cables around the country surely the area is the main problem? ;)

[StefanWolves]

Yeah but you have to think, in Finland there are probably what? 2m homes tops? in the uk there are about 25m homes, that's the main problem. You also forget, there are VERY remote parts in Scotland, and the highlands.

[Laurensh1]

Yeah but you have to think, in Finland there are probably what? 2m homes tops? in the uk there are about 25m homes, that's the main problem. You also forget, there are VERY remote parts in Scotland, and the highlands.I think I can say Finland has even remoter homes, and that's why they introduced this...
We are talking about a country that's like the north pole here.

[StefanWolves]

I think I can say Finland has even remoter homes, and that's why they introduced this...
We are talking about a country that's like the north pole here.

What has that got to do with anything? you could argue that the UK & Canada are also close to the north pole, but I won't.

[The Professor]

What has that got to do with anything? you could argue that the UK & Canada are also close to the north pole, but I won't.

He didn't say close to, he said like. As in snow all over the place and stuff.

[efq]

The countrys that got the internet late will always have the faster internet first because there is less work to do. If you have old wires to change its a lot harder, so if a country installed new wires (because they haven't had internet ever/less developed) they could put brand new 100mb.

Portugal didn't get the internet till 2001 or something thats why we are getting minimum 100mb now.

[The Professor]

Yeah what's the average speed in Japan? something stupid like 1gb/s

[GommeInc]

It's fascinating the discussion about european countries and their infrastructure. One thing you notice in Holland and Slovenia are how new looking their roads are, and then you notice how amazing their internet is when you access it. It's weird because Holland is quite a wealthy nation, but Slovenia isn't yet finds the time to update the roads and make them long lasting. Then again, the UK uses terrible resources for their roads :P


Yeah what's the average speed in Japan? something stupid like 1gb/s
Is Speedtest a reliable/ish source? China's average is something like 2mb/s last time I looked, and Europe in general had the best internet.

Finland is easy to remember - just think of it as the scrotum of Europe. It's what some people call it, and I think the Finnish complained about its appearance on the Euro coins :P

[Recursion]

The average internet speed is actually more like 65 - 70Mbp/s in Japan, but in major cities like Tokyo it can reach 1Gbp/s

[StefanWolves]

Yeah, I read about that on the internet. 1GBP/s, epic.

[Mickword]

WOOOO! Go Finland. I so wanna go there now :p.

[efq]

Trust me 100mb isnt that great after a while, I only use my 100mb internet to pirate software, burn it then keep it with me all the time :D but yeah it just gets to be like your internet now, you get used to it and want faster...

[The Professor]

Trust me 100mb isnt that great after a while, I only use my 100mb internet to pirate software, burn it then keep it with me all the time :D but yeah it just gets to be like your internet now, you get used to it and want faster...

I just want to be able to stream video at the same time as someone else in the house and not have to wait for the buffer race to finish :'(

[efq]

I just want to be able to stream video at the same time as someone else in the house and not have to wait for the buffer race to finish :'(
Lmaoooooo. VM do 50gb but then VM suck overall so ;D.

Move to Portugal, cheap 100mb internet :D