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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:34 pm Post subject: ROK not "Most Wired Country in World |
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Uh-oh.. Bad news... The ROK might not be the most connected country in the world.
Yahoo News Article
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Because of its high prevalence of broadband access,
South Korea is often considered the world's "most-wired" nation. But a new study of international Internet usage offered evidence that people in other countries are even more connected.
When pollsters for Ipsos Insight recently asked 6,500 people in 12 countries whether they had used the Internet in the past month, 68 percent of South Koreans said yes. That ranked No. 4, behind Japan (89 percent), Canada (72 percent) and the United States (71 percent). |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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Uh-oh is right! I think there will be another surge of PC bang openings when word of this gets out. |
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itaewonguy

Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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maybe they just asked the wrong people!!
but I think its not about if they used the internet or not in the last month!
I think wired means how many house holds are connected!
and I think almost every house in Korea has a pc and the net..
so yeah.. im sure japan is right up there too.. |
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seoulsucker

Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Location: The Land of the Hesitant Cutoff
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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The way this survey is worded kinda makes it worthless to judge who is "plugged in" or not. Did you use the internet in the past month? Your house? Your friend's house? Work? Library?
I'm pretty sure Korea still has the highest percentage of homes with broadband access in the world. To me, "connected" means you have readily available access at home. |
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Yu_Bum_suk

Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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At first I miss-read the title of the thread and thought it said 'not the most weird country' and was about to pipe up with a long list of argments to the contrary. |
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Wangja

Joined: 17 May 2004 Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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Gotta say I was surprised to see USA so high in the rankings.
A couple of trips past, I was travelling around California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. While I did not expect much internet across the desert areas (nor even mibile phone coverage!) I did expect to be able to connect in the bigger places we stayed.
Until we got into Houston, requests for rooms withn internet connection were met with blank stares. Even in Houston, many hotels did not have facilities, although one did offer dial-up. How quaint. |
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Bulsajo

Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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I always thought of Finland as the hi tech comms hotbed. When your cellphone doubles as your wireless debit card and you can dial up a drink out of a nerby coke machine without taking out your wallet, now THAT's wired... |
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Return Jones

Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Location: I will see you in far-off places
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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Bulsajo wrote: |
I always thought of Finland as the hi tech comms hotbed. When your cellphone doubles as your wireless debit card and you can dial up a drink out of a nerby coke machine without taking out your wallet, now THAT's wired... |
You've been able to do that in Korea for years. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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Wangja wrote: |
Gotta say I was surprised to see USA so high in the rankings.
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My thoughts exactly. Whenever any of my friends move back to the US, they basically disappear from the Internet. A Korean exchange student I taught for a while who's in Kansas now says her host family doesn't even have a telephone.
Canada too. I went to an Internet cafe in my hometown run by a friend of mine, and it cost 5000 won for about five minutes. |
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Return Jones

Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Location: I will see you in far-off places
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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RACETRAITOR wrote: |
Wangja wrote: |
Gotta say I was surprised to see USA so high in the rankings.
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Canada too. I went to an Internet cafe in my hometown run by a friend of mine, and it cost 5000 won for about five minutes. |
Acutally, that's because Canada is a step ahead in some ways. PC bangs with landlines are old school. Wireless hotspots are the new rage. I'm back in Canada for a few weeks and just visited my sister in the US. Both countries, at least in the major affluent cities, are loaded with wireless access points. We're becoming the land of laptops. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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who's in Kansas now says her host family doesn't even have a telephone.
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She's not looking in the right place. The telephone is that tin can sitting next to the crapper in the out house. Right next to that old catalog they've been using for toilet paper.
On the other hand, since she's a young Korean, she probably doesn't realize that black plastic boxy-shaped thing in the living room that makes annoying ringing sounds is a telephone. It doesn't fit in her pocket, play music, take pictures, send text messages or let her check her e-mail. |
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Bulsajo

Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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Return Jones wrote: |
You've been able to do that in Korea for years. |
I was reading about Finland while in Korea and at the time (at least 5 years ago, maybe closer to 6 or 7) you couldn't do it in Korea- Finland was ahead of the curve.
Maybe they're not any longer, but it sounds like Korea might not be either, if the OP's article is accurate. |
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billybrobby

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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who's in Kansas now says her host family doesn't even have a telephone.
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On the other hand, since she's a young Korean, she probably doesn't realize that black plastic boxy-shaped thing in the living room that makes annoying ringing sounds is a telephone. It doesn't fit in her pocket, play music, take pictures, send text messages or let her check her e-mail. |
hahaha. i bet if you put a rotary phone in front of some korean high schoolers, it'd be like the monkeys and the monolith in 2001: A Space Oddysey |
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JongnoGuru

Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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Guru's wired. |
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Return Jones

Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Location: I will see you in far-off places
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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Bulsajo wrote: |
Return Jones wrote: |
You've been able to do that in Korea for years. |
I was reading about Finland while in Korea and at the time (at least 5 years ago, maybe closer to 6 or 7) you couldn't do it in Korea- Finland was ahead of the curve.
Maybe they're not any longer, but it sounds like Korea might not be either, if the OP's article is accurate. |
Oh. You could be right. |
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