Background

What happens when you access a web page? How does it work?

To start with, one must understand that the internet is not a single device or being. According to Merriam-Webster, the internet is defined as “an electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world.” In short, it is a network of networks. Explaining the entire concept of the internet and how it works would be a tedious task for the purpose of this paper, so this paper will only explain how one accesses the internet and how different factors affect that penetration speed between the United States and South Korea.

When a person accesses a webpage, their computer (known as a client) sends a request in a virtual envelope, called a packet, of information asking for a copy of the webpage. This request is sent through large copper wires underground (if one is using landlines like DSL, digital subscriber lines) across LANs (Local Area Networks). The information continues through these connected cables and networks until it reaches a hub (a connection point for devices in a network) where the hub will redirect the packet to another router at the speed of light through fiber optic cables. The packet will arrive at an even larger hub that covers a WAN (Wide Area Network) and that hub will send the packet through a series of regional LANs until the packet reaches its target server. The server is a piece of hardware that serves information to other clients. The server will open the packet, read the request, and send the webpage back to the original client by breaking down the webpage into thousands of smaller packets of data which will travel through different routes but ultimately reconstruct itself at the same time on the requesting user’s computer. All of these actions happen within a second or so depending on one’s bandwidth. Bandwidth, used in computer science, is the volume of information per unit of time that a transmission medium can handle. One can think of bandwidth like a water pipe; if the pipe is small, then large amounts of water (information) will take a longer time to get through. However, if the pipe is large, the same amount of water will flow much faster to its destination.

Why is the internet in South Korea faster?

There are several factors that explain why the U.S. has both slower and more expensive internet than South Korea: the use of bandwidth by the U.S. military, Korean competition, politics, and population density.

• Use of bandwidth by the US military
  The military takes priority in the United States, so its bandwidth, used for GPS and information transmission, is the highest and most efficient in the country. “[The Department of Defense thinks] like land barons in a feudalistic society. Rather than give up control over their bandwidth, so that a central authority can divvy it out to everyone, the services horde their resources.” (McKenna, 2005, p. 27). The military does not effectively use its resources and wastes bandwidth that could be allocated to the general public.
• Korean Competition
The average Korean citizen has several outlets to choose from, so internet providers compete to have the fastest and cheapest services to attract consumers to subscribe to their plans. In the U.S., however, people usually choose between a cable company and a telephone company. Broadband providers are few and far between and are not required to share cable lines. In Korea, the government requires broadband providers to share cable lines to create open networks, therefore increasing competition between these companies since they use the same cables to send signals. This means companies can enter the broadband market without having to pay for infrastructure. In the U.S., companies lay down their own sets of cables. Competition would reduce costs for broadband consumers.
• Politics and Culture
Korea’s government promotes IT education and merging it with everyday life. With its cultural emphasis on its education system, access to massive amounts of information is essential. “The government [even] subsidizes the price of connections for low-income and traditionally unconnected people to encourage its citizens to get connected to the internet” (Stutter, 2010, pg. 2). According to the State of the Internet report from Akamai for Q4 2011, 98.5% of Korean households have internet access (compared to 65% of Americans).
• Population Density
South Korea is more densely populated than the U.S. This means that cable networks are shorter and less copper wire is used to connect a larger population, making it cheaper for companies to lay down broadband connections. Broadband signals carried by fiber optics and copper wires travel faster if the distance is shorter. “In South Korea, that's usually just from the base of an apartment building to a particular unit. In the U.S., copper wire may have to link a home with a fiber optic cable that's a mile away” (Stutter, 2010, pg. 3). This causes data to slow down and make it more expensive for companies to maintain, raising prices for consumers.