Internet 2: Oh but you can't use it!

[kiwi_2005]

Wouldn't it be great though. Post is very old - 2005 so is this still in use today.

full info
http://www.slate.com/id/2120440/

While Internet1 is open to pretty much anyone with a computer, access to Internet2 is limited to a select few, and its backbone is made up entirely of large-capacity fiber-optic cables. Rather than Internet1, which is cobbled together out of old telephone lines, Internet2 was built for speed—the roads are all wide and smooth, like your own private autobahn. Internet2 moves data at 10 gigabits per second and more, compared with the 4 or so megabits you'll get using a cable modem. As a result, Internet2 moves data 100 to 1,000 times faster than the old-fashioned Internet.

More than 200 universities, 70 private companies, 45 government agencies, and 45 international organizations log on to Internet2 every day. Your work computer might be linked to Internet2 already—you can use this Java applet to find out. There are no secret Web addresses or special browsers required to log on, no buttons saying, "Click here for Internet2." Organizations that want to join up must demonstrate a research-related purpose, pay dues, and meet minimum technical requirements so they don't slow down the rest of the Internet2 empire.

Internet2 was never designed to replace the Internet most of us are using now. It's more like a beach or a restaurant—great when not too many people know about it, frustrating when everybody and his mother starts to show up. Internet2's promoters like to compare it to early research networks that fostered the creation of canonical apps like the World Wide Web and e-mail. So, even if you never use Internet2 to download moviesat hyperspeed, you still might benefit from the research. Let's just hope they let us use e-mail2.

[NeonSamurai]

Eh that's nothing, you should see the kind of bandwidth available in Japan to the general public.

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0711/

[kiwi_2005]

Oh I know about Japan had a Japanese student stay at my neighbours for 12 months she only had dialup so I would let him come over to our house to use my internet when ever he wanted, got discussing many times about Japans internet he couldn't believe the crap speeds our broadband was limited too. Even some top cellphones that are $80 in Japan are $600NZ+ here. White collar crime