Japan's networks buckling under data strain, culprit is exactly what you think

Filed under: Culture

The saturation of high-speed networks is a virtually inevitable side-effect of compatible hardware becoming cheaper and more capable; Japan's been trekking in that direction longer than anyone, and it seems that they're nearing the breaking point. The problem's exacerbated by the fact that truly unlimited usage plans are still available over there -- we bet that doesn't last much longer -- but what's everyone downloading? Porn, of course. All of the local carriers are either clamping down on the heaviest downloaders or are considering doing so; some of the larger content providers say they're signing up over a thousand new users a day, and when you consider that many Japanese are using their phones exclusively for personal internet access, it doesn't take much work to connect the dots. Can't someone please, like, invent more spectrum space?

[Thanks, Will]

Japan's networks buckling under data strain, culprit is exactly what you think originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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