Fat Pipe Dream

July 16, 2003 | Source: Wired

A new gigabit Ethernet network provides Internet access to Japanese homes at 12 megabits per second — eight times faster than what Americans are used to — for about $21 a month.

The “Yahoo! BB” brand service includes voice-over-IP (less than 3 cents a minute for a call from Tokyo to New York), which could eventually put Japan’s NTT telephone company out of business.

A video-on-demand service that can cheaply pump Hollywood movies into Japan’s living rooms over the same 12-Mbps DSL connection.