South Korea: World’s Fastest Internet Connection?

Given that in recent poll results show that South Korean has the most online connectivity of any country in the world, do they also have the fastest internet connection? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Back in October 2010, South Korea’s broadband internet was voted to be the fastest one in the world with an average speed of 1,000-megabits per second. Given that since after World War II, if you asked the average person of the street on which is the most technologically advanced country in the world, the United States and Japan are typically the two countries that top the list. But in the beginning of the second decade of the 21^st Century, it seems that South Korea has a faster broadband internet connection than either the United States or Japan. 

On average, broadband internet speeds that prevail in the world’s other most technologically advanced countries hover between a “lowly” 2-megabits per second – only twice as fast as the digital PCM audio output stream that comes out of the coaxial digital output of a CD player – to 10-megabits per second. These speeds are 100 or more times slower than your typical South Korean broadband.

 But what aspects of a 1,000-megabit per second broadband internet can do that is useful to the average internet surfer? Well, a 1000-megabit per second broadband internet connection allows you to download a two-hour long Hollywood movie recorded at HD DVD / Blu Ray DVD quality in a little over 10 seconds! Movie pirates will probably be moving to South Korea to avail of such broadband internet capabilities. 

Did The Wireless Intercom Used By NASA During The Moon Landings Garbled Armstrong’s Speech?

Though state of the art at the time, did the wireless intercom used by NASA to talk to the Apollo 11 team during the historic Moon landing garbled Neil Armstrong’s iconic speech? 

By: Ringo Bones 

“Its one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The iconic speech made by Neil Armstrong when he set foot on the Moon was not what it supposed to be. Even though the audio quality might not be on par with the iconic Abbey Road Studios circa 1969, does the inherent distortion of the wireless intercom used by NASA to communicate between their Houston base and the Apollo 11 astronauts on the Moon was distorted enough to “garble” Neil Armstrong’s now iconic speech? 

During the Moon landing back in July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong claims that his “one small step…” speech via wireless intercom has a word missing. Modern analysis of the recordings of the wireless intercom of that historic event by John Ollson, a forensic linguist, has shown that there’s no room for the missing “a” in Armstrong’s iconic speech back in 1969. So is it now Armstrong’s garbled speech that is known to posterity? While it is no secret that several years before the wireless intercom chosen by NASA  sometimes has audibility problems even when talking to astronauts on the launch pad minutes before being launched into space. 

The Titanic Tragedy: Birth Of Our Modern Wireless World?

The April 14, 1912 sinking of the Titanic may have resulted in the tragic loss of life on a mass scale, but did it also initiate the birth of our modern wireless world? 

By: Ringo Bones 

The tragic sinking of the cruise liner titanic back in April 14, 1912 had placed the single side band wireless telegraphy onto the center stage where previously it has been seen as a mere scientific curiosity hastily pressed into service due to “telecommunications necessity”. Before the establishment of our modern day social networks like Facebook and Twitter, back before microphones with fidelity that allows the un-garbled human voice to be transmitted wirelessly, single side band wireless using Morse Code messages was the only way to go back in the tail end of the 19^th Century. 

Due to the “confusion” by amateur wireless enthusiasts relaying Morse Code messages that all of the Titanic’s passengers were safely rescued hours after the Titanic tragedy and adding that the liner Titanic suffered only minor damage after a collision with an iceberg, amateur radio / wireless enthusiasts were relegated to the short wave and short-ranged amateur radio band, while the longer wavelengths capable of longer range transmission were reserved to “professionals”. This very incident thus established the amateur CB radio band of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Morse Code and International Morse Code may not be as articulate in comparison to modern day Facebook, Twitter and other photo sharing social media sites, but it did get the intended job done. And by the way, it eventually paved the way to our modern wireless world of the internet that’s easy to use even by “civilians” with only their Humanities Courses to fall back on when things get a tad “too technical” for them. 

AT&T and T-Mobile Merger: Bad for Mobile Phone Subscribers?

It may have made the DOW closing on the plus side when the merger was announced, but could the AT&T and T-Mobile merger leave subscribers high and dry?


By: Ringo Bones


The announcement of AT&T buying T-Mobile for 39 billion US dollar in a bid to become America’s biggest mobile phone service provider had unexpectedly made the DOW close on the positive side back in the Monday, March 21, 2011 trading day. Unexpected (?) maybe it might be because major corporate “mergers” such as these are as rare as hen’s teeth in our economically austere post global credit crunch environment. But will this unexpected corporate merger of the lucrative telecommunications industry eventually leave mobile and smart-phone subscribers high and dry?

As the only licensed i-Phone provider in the US, AT&T’s proprietary mobile and smart-phone network has already been severely taxed during peak subscriber usage periods. Bandwidth wise, it is long overdue for an upgrade ever since the i-Phone and its subsequent improved incarnations had become must have items. Given that the mobile and smart-phone service industry is still a positive-growth industry, will the AT&T and T-Mobile merger result in a much-needed upgrade of America’s telecommunication’s infrastructure since superseded by several other countries?

It might yet be too soon to tell if subscribers will be left high and dry by this major post credit crunch telecommunications merger or will the merger result in a much needed upgrade of America’s already dated digital telecommunications – i.e. Internet – infrastructure. Let’s just hope that the merger will result in a win-win not just for Wall Street and main-street, but also for us long-suffering digital telecommunications clients who now can’t live without the Internet.