IT’S 2016, and here are some of the things I learned in 2015. If you are looking for a really nice toy, try out the BB-8 droid robot toy (inspired by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”). It’s a new remote-controlled toy that you can control using your smartphone, and it’s really something. It’s almost like a pet. If you live alone, it can really keep you amused and not lonely.
Our family went over for a brief visit in China, and one of the things we noticed is that it’s really hard to get over China’s Great Wall. Not the Great Wall in Beijing, but the Great Internet Firewall. Citizens of China cannot access sites or news outside if these are deemed undesirable by the government.
By the same token, you cannot access Facebook or Twitter, and most of Google and other American social media sites. You also can’t download Time magazine or Fortune Magazine. Google pissed off the government when they pulled out of China alleging that they were censored. The government retaliated. Now you can’t use Google Search, nor most of the Google Services. You can’t access Gmail or Google Maps, as well.
If you are using an Android phone, you can’t use Google’s App Store. So while a lot of Google’s Android is used overwhelmingly in China, it doesn’t benefit Google at all, since they don’t use Google Search or Maps, and you can’t purchase anything from their app store.
Other than that, their Internet service is really fast. In most places, there are available WiFi services you can tap. I got about 30 mbps average in China, and on a trip to Indonesia, I got almost that speed as well in the hotel. In Hong Kong, it was way faster—about 100 mbps. That’s what you get for paying about 40 dollars a month. If you pay 10 or so dollars more, you can get 300 mbps. My various companies pay over US$5,000 per month on Internet service, and collectively get slower connections. That’s how backward we are.
Many DSL packages and home plans are about 2 to 8 mbps in the Philippines. You may think that’s a decent speed and enough, but once you start to use over 20 mbps, you will see the difference, and the Internet can actually be enjoyable, and you can think of many other new applications. Isn’t it a breeze when you can watch videos or movies without it ever pausing to refresh, and it is as smooth as if you were watching or listening to something on your own hard disk?
Incidentally, it was in the news that in the United States, more than 70 percent of people already have broadband Internet and also smartphones. These two are requisites to be in the Internet age. Another study observed that most broadband service users now are getting 50 to 70 mbps average.
We hope we will get that soon. Progress is not just the percentage of people who have Internet. It’s also how those who have it are using it, and when it is faster and more reliable, there will be new apps and greater productivity will happen.