Musings on Patriotism

America is a textbook teenager: fun loving, fancy-free, self-obsessed, and very dramatic. We are preparing for our trip abroad, and on the Fourth of July, it is hard not to reflect on our nation. Abroad, I tend to find some reserve supply of patriotism and defend my home turf. Lots of people have lots of opinions about America. America doesn't just divide me, it divides most of the world. For me, it is weird to get irritable about people picking on your nation when you do it anyway. My feathers are easily ruffled about it all.

I do not think my dilemma is unusual. I apologize for getting uppity, but politics is different for girls. In Three Guineas, Virginia Woolf waxes beautifully about why women do not have to feel loyal to one flag. If women do not equally share power, they should not feel incredibly patriotic. She writes, "As a woman, I have no country. As a woman, I need no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world."

Anyway, we're leaving again. Time to be ruffled.

International Broadband Costs | Rate Information from Locals

At this international online forum, a list of forum users explain what broadband connections costs in their respective nations. This is truly valuable local information for anyone who is thinking of renting abroad. (LGL compiled and edited posts so countries will appear in alaphabetical order. We also corrected some spelling errors.)

Argentina
"A normal salary here is about 1000 pesos a month (US$333).
256k (Isp only) = 90 pesos = approx $US30
512k (Isp only) = 130 pesos = approx US$45"

Australia:
"Here in Sydney Australia Optus Cable 12gig/ month with additional 24gig between 2am and 9am daily is AU$60 (about US$45). No download limit but after reaching your 12 gig you're throttled back to dial up speed, which is hell. There's still that 24 gig to use if you want to get up at 2am."

Brazil
"Here in Brazil, we pay approx. 36.00 USD for a 512 kbps (residential)."

Chile
"In my country, I pay US$45 for a DSL 525 kbps terra (we guess that means hard wire, not satellite). The price is very similar to other ISPs."

China (Hong Kong)
"I use Hutchison Global Crossing, VDSL 10Mbit up/down service, no limit on data or time. Price is $123 HKD per month (about $15.76USD) and includes a 50MB photo album."

Colombia
"I live in Cucuta, Colombia (near from the Frontier to Venezuela). The maximum speed here is 256 kb/s and costs $344 Dollar/monthly [we don't know if this is US$ or something else -- LGL]. There are 2 providers for wireless Service or by Red (Cabel over the street). The Latency is very high, and the Services come without guarantee and is only for 2 Users."

Costa Rica
"Here in Costa Rica (Central America), we have a state telecommunications monopoly --only one ISP. ADSL at 256/128 is a US$75 deposit, you buy the US$100 modem (so the ISP doesn't have to fix it!) and pay US$41/month. Average service. Dial-Up at 33-50 is US$15/month plus phone line time at about US$0.66/hour... Average service..."

India
Here in INDIA, goverment owned Telecom COmpany BSNL has just started Broadband.
256K/64K - 1 GB CAP - 500 INR ( 12US$ )
384/96K - 2 GB CAP - 1000 INR ( 24 US$)
512/128K - 5 GB CAP - 1800 INR ( 42 US$)
1024/256K - 10 GB CAP - 3300 INR ( 80 US$ )
Its very expensive here, but speed is always good. I'm always getting 32-35 KBPS on 256 K."

Ireland
"I have only 1MB line in Ireland. I pay 39 Euros. There are cheaper deals now, like 2 MB for 35 Euros."

Malaysia
"I'm from Malaysia, currently connected via TMnet ADSL 2048/384 plan for RM88 which is approx USD24 per month with no bandwidth caps, no international link limitations whatsoever."

Nevis
"Here in Nevis (West Indies), only Telco provider is Cable&Wireless.
256/128 for $48USD
512/128 for $55USD
768/256 for $149USD
1.5M/256 for $225USD
The local cable company charges approx the same. With DSL, we expect only half the speed and actually receive 1/3 of it."

New Zealand
"2048/192k 10gb data cap for US$35...
Average wage in New Zealand is US$27000."

Romania
"Here in Romania there are 2 major ISP's.
RDS (Romanian Data System):
9$- traffic 2gb and after this the config file in the modem is reduced to 128kbps
14$- 4gb traffic
20$-8gb traffic
29-16gb traffic
Theoretically 256kbps, practically 128kbps all day and at some hours no more than 48-56kbps and after that traffic...
Astral:
12$-- 1,5gb
19$ -- 3gb
24$ -- 1gb during the day and unlimited during night
29$--- unlimited
256kbps connection
Both ISP's with cable."

Sri Lanka:
"Here in Sri Lanka, Its only single ADSL provider- Sri Lanka Telecom Limited.(SLT)
Two ADSL packages:
HOME EXPRESS 512/128 23 US$
OFFICE EXPRESS 2048/256 68 US$ Both unlimited.
But during peak time say 09:00 to 18:00 its only 25-60 kbps to International sites. After 22:00 you will get above 400kbps."

South Africa:
"The monthly costs for broadband/adsl in 2005 is:
Excluding forced voice line rental: R699 = US$116.50 = 87.38 Euro per month
Including forced voice line rental: R786.05 = 131 US Dollar = 98.26 Euro per month
Here is the cost break down per month:
ADSL Line Rental
Residential 384 Kbps = R449.00 (75 US Dollar)
Residential 512 Kbps = R680.00 (113 US Dollar)
Business 512 Kbps = R800.00 (133 US Dollar)
Forced Residential Line (Voice) Rental = R87.05 (14,50 US Dollar)
Forced Business Line (Voice) Rental = R115.65 (19,17 US Dollar)
ISP Cost
R250 (41,67 US Dollars)
Limitations: 3Gb Monthly CAP, Port Prioritization
Thus the least amount you will pay in South Africa per month is for the Residential 384 Kbps package:
Excluding forced voice line rental: R699 = 116,50 Us Dollar= 87.38 Euro per month
Including forced voice line rental: R786.05 = 131 US Dollar = 98.26 Euro per month."

South Korea
"Korea Telecom, about 30-40 usd/month,average speed 500kbps (but real speed is up to high 1mbps- 0.10 mbps). No cap, no fap, no limitations."

Spain:
"I live in spain with a 512/128 speed, and the line quality is excellent. It costs 39 EUR a month with no restriction on usuage per month."

United Kingdon
"Eclipse for a 2mbps link (i.e. 40x faster than modem dialup speeds and 4x Telkoms best offer!) for around £14.99 per month. This has a 1GB limit, but additional GB's can be purchased as/when used at a rate of £1.75 per GB. No port blocking on this line. This is one of the best offers at the moment in the UK and is really cheap."

United States (2 users):
(1) "Here in Puerto Rico we got one Telephone company called "Puerto Rico Telephone Company (PRTC)" they have a really big monopoly around here.
Here are the price of the internet:
128/64 = $25
256/128 = $40
512/128 = $60
512/256 = $65
768/384 = $75
1024/512 = $85
All price are in USD since we here use the same dollar as the U.S."

(2) "I use a local service which is wireless broadband operation on the 2.4 ghz range. Normally I achieve speeds anywhere from 490k to 515k. I pay 30 USD/mo. I live in Kentucky, USA."

Venezuela:
"I live in Venezuela and I pay for 768/256 122 USD, but never have 786/256, always Speed Dial Up to 256 kp/s. Only at night is better service to 660 kb/s."


Answers.com gives a further detailed list of of the various services and costs of other countries.