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Business & Money

Sweden tops broadband quality survey

Published: 5 Oct 09 16:24 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/22478/20091005/

Sweden has the highest quality broadband in Europe, and the third best in the world, according to a new study.

According to the Broadband Quality Study, carried out jointly by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and network equipment supplier Cisco, Sweden has done the best job at closing the “quality gap” between service offered to residents in cities and those living in rural areas.

Sweden’s Broadband Quality Score (BQS) of 57 puts it at the top of Europe, and in third place globally behind South Korea and Japan.

The survey’s rankings are based on broadband penetration as well as overall quality based on upload and download speeds, as well as a factor known as “latency” which measures the time it takes for a packet of data to travel from source to destination.

Although Sweden’s broadband penetration rate of 69 percent is higher than Japan’s 64 percent, the Asian country comes out ahead of Sweden in the overall quality rankings because the country touts a higher speed broadband than Sweden.

Nevertheless, Sweden’s BQS ranking has risen significantly in the past year, jumping up 38 percent since the 2008 survey.

The survey also ranks broadband quality in more than 150 cities around the globe, with three Swedish cities ranking in the top 20.

According to the rankings, Malmö has the 7th best broadband service in the world, with Uppsala coming in 9th place, and Stockholm reaching 15th place.

The results of the survey are based on 24 million records from actual broadband speed tests conducted by users around the world in May 2008 and from May to July 2009.

External link: 2009 Broadband Quality Study »

David Landes (news@thelocal.se/+46 8 656 6513)

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08:16 October 6, 2009 by MoriahN
They have found out that broadband quality is linked to a nation's advancement as a knowledge economy and countries with broadband on their nation agenda had the highest broadband quality that is why Sweden has the highest quality broadband in Europe rapidly catching up with Japan and South Korea. It is also closing a broadband quality gap in its own country with residents outside the most populated cities enjoying better quality than those in the cities, which bucks the trend elsewhere. So I think, in the country of Sweden, only a few uses installment loans, whn they badly needed it. Just what are installment loans? Some people don't know. Installment loans usually mean a loan that is repaid in installments like a mortgage, or a credit card, or car loan. Bi-monthly loans, for instance, would mean periodic payments that are made every couple of months. Bi-weekly, would be payments you make every two weeks, the average pay period. That's what is meant by installment loans - just a loan that you pay back over installments with an agreed period of time in between payments. There are even short term installment loans lenders that have installment loans options for small amount, short term loans, like the kind you'd need for a sudden, unexpected expense.
12:03 October 6, 2009 by BrittInSweden
Good to see that Oxford University was involved in this. I mean the UK isn't known for its high speed broadband even though the government keeps saying more should be done to improve the service.

How to kick start the job market in the UK? Fund the conversion from copper to fibre optics to home in the UK. Will cost billions to do but also create thousands of jobs. Would have been money well spent rather than bailing out banks that are using the bail out money to pay bonuses instead.
10:10 October 9, 2009 by me_i_sverige
Isn't Sweden after Hongkong in that list? When I saw the list, I could see Sweden in 4th place under the heading Broadband Leadership Top 20. Anyway, it is a good achievement and Sweden really has good speed and infrastructure.
13:36 October 9, 2009 by simplychrista
I'm in the UK and our "broadband" is not even worthy it's name. If the phone rings, the connection goes down. If it rains, the connection goes down. If it snows...well, you get the picture.

And sometimes it's just as painfully slow as the good ol 56k dial-up...so UK is far from the top on this survey.
15:19 October 30, 2009 by IWP
Absolute nonsense. The usual, self-satisfied Swedish drivel. Try it out in the north of the country, Vaster Norrland, for example. Total joke. Sweden's a broadband banana republic.
13:03 July 8, 2011 by jaclie
Hmm I have to (mostly) agree with the last post. I'm within the borders of Stockholm, have a contract with Bredbands Bolaget for IP phone, TV and broadband...and recently moved house. Gave BB several weeks notice, they said 'yessir 12MB at that location'...that was 2 weeks ago and I have had to get a mobile dongle in the meantime because I have NO fixed broadband yet (thus no TV or landline either, and dongle won't push broadband out to internet radio or iPhone of course). Phoned them today and they a) couldn't give me a date for 'connection' and b) wouldn't allow me talk to someone further up the food-chain. Nothing but trouble with BB since I took out the subscription in January, wouldn't recommend thenm to anyone....
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