Re: [tlug] (off-topic) Unlimited data plan (mobile internet access) in Japan

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Jim Breen writes:

 > Canada, Brazil, Sith Effrika, ...

I missed Brazil, you're right.  I'm not sure about South Africa.

In any case, I was mostly thinking about the OECD countries and
near-misses -- I guess I should include India in that group along with
the other BRICs, and India would satisfy the "sheer area" criterion.

Note that Brazil is something of a special case, in that it has very
poor fixed line infrastructure outside of a half-dozen large cities.
3G and 4G coverage is essential there.

 > If sparseness of population is a criterion, Canada and Australia beat
 > the others easily.

It's not just sparseness that's the challenge (unless you have a
"national minimum service" law like Japan's, and you need to run fiber
to a cell tower on the Arctic Circle for one family of caribou
ranchers).  It's sheer area with a significant dusting of population.
That is why Canada is more like Japan than like the U.S. -- something
like 98% of Canadians never get more than 200km from the U.S. border,
which is about 5000km long.  So even with the French coverage law, you
don't need to bother with northern Ontario, much less the Northwest
Territories: there are office towers in Toronto with more people!

For the same reason, I wonder if Australia could be considered one
dimensional -- a thin ring along the coast.  But maps indicate a
reasonable density of towns throughout most of the continent.