Japan Rolls Out 10Gbps Internet Speeds For Just $55 A Month

Many Americans feel like the state of broadband Internet service in the United States isn't that great. In addittion, in many areas there is only one broadband Internet provider, leaving consumers with no choice but to pay exorbitant fees to carriers like Comcast, Verizon and a select few others. While much of America struggles with broadband speeds that are slow compared to the rest of the world, Japan now will be offering blazing-fast speeds at what we'd consider here in the US to be a reasonable price.

In Japan, NTT East and NTT West (Nippon Telegraph And Telephone) have increased data speeds for their existing plans up to 10 Gbps (that's 10 Gigabits per second or 10,000 Mbps bandwidth). In the United States, many people are lucky to even get 1 Gbps and typically pay through the nose for it if they do. In contrast, Japan's new speed offering is even more impressive as pricing will work out to about $55 per month for that high speed 10 Gbps service tier.

The Japanese Internet provider notes that 10 Gbps is the theoretical maximum value, and users may not get that speed all the time. NTT East and NTT West say that customers need large-capacity data communication because of high definition 4K and 8K video and the spread of virtual reality technology. It's even more impressive that the service the carrier is offering is symmetrical with up to the same 10 Gbps speed for both up and downstream bandwidth.

Subscribers are required to use a FLET's Hikari Cross compatible router to take advantage of the speeds, and it appears that a router is included with the service for an additional ¥500 or roughly $4.48 USD monthly. Along with supporting the 10 Gbps data speeds, the router also supports Wi-Fi 6. The service area for the new broadband network covers parts of Tokyo's 23 wards, including parts of Adachi, Suginami, Edogawa, Nerima, Setagaya, Katsushika, Ota, and Itabashi for NTT East with NTT West providing coverage for Osaka and Nagoya.

The carrier also lists a construction cost, which we assume to be a connection charge of ¥18,000, which is a little over $161 USD. Most of the United States can't get broadband speeds anywhere close to 10 Gbps, and if we can, it costs much more than $55. Many are hoping that the US can realize cheaper and better broadband speeds when SpaceX launches its StarLink broadband service later this year.