Fat Pipe Dream Wired Magazine Issue 11.08 - August 2003 Softbank has spent close to $2 billion building out a gigabit Ethernet network and leasing copper wire from Japanese telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. The result is a service, offered under the Yahoo! BB brand, that provides Internet access to Japanese homes at 12 megabits per second - eight times faster than what Americans are used to - for about $21 a month. Every day, as many as 7,000 new subscribers fire up their plug-and-play DSL modems, making Yahoo! BB the world's fastest-growing broadband service.
Outside Tokyo subway stations, rain or shine, cute teens in white Yahoo! BB mackintosh coats hand out a free modem to anyone who breaks stride.
Anyone got one of these free modems yet? Even if you don't sign up for Yahoo BB, a free DSL modems not bad...
