Why Is The Internet In Romania So Damn Fast?
Romania, and Bucharest specifically, is something of a travel blogger’s digital fantasy come true. Walk down most streets, stop on any corner, whip out your smart phone and more often than not you’ll find a wireless connection. That’s open. No password required; generally because a commodity as common as an Internet connection here isn’t worth stealing.
In fact, Romania has the world’s second fastest Internet at about 15 megabytes per second (mbps), second behind only South Korea. To put that in perspective, that’s nearly 5 times the average connection an American has in their home. In America, having T1 line speeds of up to 12mbps are some of the most impressive. So how does a country with less than 1% of the United States GDP and 50th on the Human Development Index (HDI) – compared to South Korea’s number 15 ranking – jump to the front of the online race?
Yes, there are the technological components for those binary bits to run along but it’s who’s behind those wires and how they got there that’s a more interesting story.
More Than Nuts And Bolts
There’s a natural tendency for most of us to think that Romania was probably a late newcomer to the digital revolution and therefore had the benefit of installing the latest equipment. If that reasoning were true, then Bhutan, the latest country online would have the world’s fastest Internet. (And America, where the Internet was invented, would be creeping along at 13kbps like Congo, the current world’s slowest is.)
Internet speed has a lot to do with good infrastructure but even the best equipment in the world won’t help without well trained engineers who can organize those online connections efficiently.
Going Geek Starts At An Early Age
Romania’s fast Internet may seem like an anomaly at first – until you take a look at its neighbors. Bulgaria has the world’s 3rd fastest connection and Ukraine 8th. Go a bit north and you’ll find Latvia and Lithuania taking up the 4th and 5th spots respectively. Much like Romania, these countries have a tradition of a mathematics and science-heavy curriculum in their education process beginning early on. They typical Romanian student sees more than 2.5 times the amount of mathematics education and nearly 8 times the amount of computer training than an American by the time the reach high school [PDF]. There is also some anecdotal evidence that Romanian classrooms get more girls involved in the sciences and math [PDF].
Some consider the ‘hard’ sciences to have been an intellectual outlet during the repressive years under Communism. The exact set of circumstances that have created this tilt are complex but the results are clear – Romania has the most certified information technology (IT) specialists in the European Union (EU) and are 6th worldwide [PDF]. Those of you running Windows 7′s default anti-virus suite should know your computer is being protected by a program developed by Romanian software engineers.
Now that you have the base of engineers – or Romanian geeks as I’ll affectionately call them – let’s look at the unique landscape they’ve helped create and operate in.
The Straight Ethernet Lines From Communism To Capitalism
Romania might have one of the world’s fastest Internet connections but it has a mediocre broadband penetration rate; about half that of the EU average. Only 14% of the population, roughly 2.9 million people in a geographically small area. That geographic area is also remarkably unregulated in telecom terms which is probably why Romania has had a somewhat rotating theater of hundreds of Internet service providers over the last 12 years. This remarkable ad-hoc form of competitive capitalism is one of the reasons why Internet bandwidth is incredibly cheap in Romania.
You have telecoms and ISPs laying down wires, or raising them depending on the situation; practically no regulation of the market, relatively few people getting online, plus a high nerd-to-population ratio. When they come together here’s how you get the world’s second fastest Internet.
Romania’s Layer Cake Of Connectivity
Major fiber optic connections connect Romania to the rest of the world; these connections being more-or-less owned and maintained by large service providers. Within neighborhoods you tend to have relatively smaller local Ethernet local area networks (LANs) that metaphorically sit between a Romanian computer in a house and the major service provider. There are thousands of these throughout the country – there has to be as although the connection is fast, is doesn’t go very far. These LANs act as middlemen to the Internet in a sense; the benefit being they can all negotiate with the major ISPs, forcing prices down. This is what happens when you don’t regulate your nerds.
This arrangement wouldn’t work in the United States for several reasons. Rules and laws would certainly get in the way and you couldn’t realistically run this type of Ethernet patchwork system over the much larger distances you find in America. Also, there is very little competition between ISPs since most run a practical monopoly in most parts of the country.
It is also worth noting that there are about 150 more computer engineers per person in Romania than there are in the US. That would make it difficult to find enough people to run such networks, let alone foster an environment that would create innovative ways to connect them.
I’ve left out many technical details and this is something of an over-simplification; I focused on conveying the major points in response to the question of why Romanians have such a (damn) fast Internet connection.
We are in Bulgaria right now and I’ve decided that this country needs to be the new “Chiang Mai” backpacker base, especially in the summers. The internet is lightning fast, food is good (though not as good as Thai food) and cheap, and there are plenty of cute towns with cheap accommodations. In the summer, the beaches are nice but not packed and, in the winter, there’s skiing. And the people are amazingly kind and welcoming (I don’t think they expect to get tourists here). We are getting SO much work done here because of the ultra-fast internet. It’s awesome!
I couldn’t agree more, I loved Bulgaria and found it to be ideal for all of the reasons you mention. The Internet, incredible isn’t it! You’ll be spoiled now if you leave eastern Europe!
Great article. Every travel blog that I’ve read has loved Bulgaria. I think we’ll have to check it out.
A very overlooked country indeed.
Amazing article!!! My hubby and I read it with great interest.
Thank you Anjuli, I’m glad you enjoyed this technical tale
Interesting. I’m at another desirable digital nomad location right now, and while the Internet is not as fast, it is free and plenty available in almost all corners, from all shops, including high-end restaurants. The difference is that open, unsecured access points are very rare here. Every shop will gladly provide the wireless key upon request. In Romania, a hotbed of cybercrime and identity theft, I’d be somewhat hesitant to log in and access any old Internet connection.
Granted, a wireless password is not bulletproof protection, but it’s one more layer of security. A VPN service should really be a necessary expense if you access bank accounts on the road or care who may access your emails.
-Rich
Hi Rich, where are you now?
(Curious too, have the comment issues cleared up?)
Hi Anil! I’m currently in Antigua Guatemala, a wonderful colonial-style city and the first “digital city” in Central America. Supposedly, this means that free public wi-fi is available in the main square and in a radius of about 1.5km. I’ll be testing that out later and reporting on my experiences. Internet is a must-have everywhere I’d like to stay long term, which is what caught my eye about your post.
Your iPad theme is very cool and would like to implement something similar on my site at some point. The only issue for me was that the comment would not post (I’m using laptop now). I tried turning off the theme using the option at the bottom, but that didn’t work. Eventually, I was able to get a “comment submitted” notification by using an alternate browser other than Safari. No idea what what happened.
Hope all else is well and wish you safe and happy travels
-Rich
Interesting to hear and completely understandable, I am tied to the Internet as well
Antigua is a place that I hear about often – and almost always good.
Thanks also for the feedback on the iPad theme, hopefully it was a temporary issue and I’ll take a look at the settings to double check.
Thanks again and happy travels to you as well.
-Anil
That study is seriously flawed — it doesn’t even seem to include Estonia, which is either at, or very close to, the top worldwide, with many people having 150meg to their home. See, for example, the table at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedtest.net#data
These types of study tend to vary depending on how the tests are taken:
http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/
Romania is undoubtedly one of the world’s fastest; that particular study is just one example.
The more I hear about Romania, the more I think I MUST check it out.
Definitely! Spring or fall are good times before it gets too cold
…but the Internet is fast year round.
oh how i would love to be in such a place.
fastest internet connection available in egypt is 2mbps. an average home, however, gets the 512kbps connection, they are more affordable. and no matter what type of connection you pay for, it is never fully functioning, for some weird reason no Egyptian ever discovered till now
That would be frustrating over a long period of time, I remember it being a matter of chance when I was in Egypt. Like the Internet connection had a mood, some days good, some days bad! In Romania it is always in a good mood. Well, at least the Internet anyway
Romania has been on my list of destinations for a while. This is just one more reason to visit. Thanks for telling the story!
Hopefully you’ll get there soon. I can only imagine by then the Internet will be even faster
I agree on the Bulgaria comments… Been there, great place. Truly a remarkable country.
stay adventurous, Craig.
I think the name is what deters people. They need a good travel slogan…
I’m a Romanian and I want to thank you for this article.
Many of the natural beauties of Romania are well known outside the country, but the technical details posted by you here (including the kind words about the highly trained Romanian IT specialists) are things that not many people thought Romania was capable of.
And, to give everyone another reason to visit this country, I remember a Swiss woman telling Financial Times in an interview from last year that “Switzerland is like a garden compared to this.” – here is the full article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/eca83348-0174-11e1-b177-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1cp0wjzlM
Thanks again for this post, Anil.
Hi Adrian, I should thank you for the very kind comment and honor. I was immediately drawn to this story and hope that in the long run this focus on the sciences is a powerful asset in Romania’s economy.
The photos in the article are beautiful too, I’d love to visit again – next time though when it’s a bit warmer
OK, then it’s settled! Don’t forget to look me up next time you’re in Romania – we’ll have a beer or two
Deal!
Hi Adrian – hopefully you are following this thread. My wife and I may be headed to Romania in August or September and would love to connect offline. If you could email me (tyler …at… owlandbear dot org) or through our digital nomad travel blog, owlandbear.org, that would be great!
Hi Tyler. Thanks for your message! I’ll send you an email today.
Cheers!
When i read the article, i thought you were Romanian. I think you understood and explained this phenomenon better than any Romanian blog post I’ve ever seen ! It’s a wonderful thing to see someone appreciating our country. It’s ashame though, even with this high nerd to person ratio, the average people are less informed and uneducated than in the US I think, and that’s mainly because they are poor. God speed in your journeys.
Thank you Alexandru, I’m touched and happy I’ve been able to describe this aspect of Romania as well as a local
I do hope that the high level of education and nerd ratio come to help Romania immensely in the near future. They are incredible assets to be proud of.
Thank you again and all the best.
Hi, Anil, and congrats for the article!
I’m from Romania too, working in the tourism industry for a couple of years now. I love the way travel & internet have connected during the past years. I mean that most people come here and visit / see something spectacular, take a pic and can immediately connect to a wireless network and upload the photo to social sites (Facebook, Twitter etc) or check in on Foursquare, thus recommending it to their friends and promoting that specific place. Internet here is a huge advantage, as you perfectly put it in your article!
If I can be of any use to you or your readers with info on Romania, let me know!
Hi Dana, thank you very much. I can’t imagine travel without the Internet now and am thankful for it as it’s providing my livelihood in a way impossible 15+ years ago. And it was nice to see the upload/download bars zip across my screens in Romania – I felt like I was actually *in* the Internet!
It’s great to read this awesome article as a romanian! Thank you and I hope each and every reader will come and get a glimpse at our beautiful country!
And don’t hesitate about contacting one of us to find out more details. We are always happy to help!
I appreciate that very much and do hope more people are encouraged to visit Romania as well
hey,
)
nice article, makes me proud of being Romania. If anyone comes to Romania especially Sighisoara and souroundings i`m more than happy to offer you info. I live in Tg Mures (a town near sighisoara 50km) and also run a blog for events , lifestyle, food and stuff like this Mures county related. so basicly i know where is the best place for accomodation , events happening, best places for partys, traditional food and drinks. So don`t hesitate to write me on email contact(at)outinmures.ro and i`ll try to advice you
PS: the blog is only in romanian because i don`t have time for writing in other languages at the moment but i`m planning to write in english also
. i have more time since i graduated med school this year 
Whenever I am in the area I’ll try and remember to get in touch! I’m always open to local information from a local! (And congrats on finishing med school!!)
You can’t compare US to Romania, US has 300M in population, we have less than 20. US has a lot more ground to cover, we… not so much.
About how much do we learn in school about IT, believe me when I say this, we do not learn anything useful in school about IT. We study a little bit of C++ and HTML in high school but that’s it. Everything else comes from our own interrest in this domain of work.
About everything else presented in the article, no comment, you did your homework before writing this article.
That is true, population distribution has a big part to play and noted above in the article. As for C++ and HTML in high school, that’s very much further than many classes in the U.S. and Turkey at the moment. Though I think programming should be standard for all students anywhere beginning at even earlier ages. It will become a critical skill in the near future.
This is a new information for me. I was never aware that Bulgaria was a traveler’s paradise. There are many breath-taking and exciting places in Bulgaria which are worth site-seeing.
Bulgaria or Romania or both?
Internet speed is measured in bits not bytes.
Multiply by 8, now you’ve turned those bytes into bits.
“It is also worth noting that there are about 150 more computer engineers per person in Romania than there are in the US.”
Are you telling us that there are 150+ computer engineers per capita in Romania, i.e. that for every child born/immigrant, there are >150 computer engineers popping up out-of-the-blue, and for every one of those, there are another >150 computer engineers and so on…?
I’m not saying that, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is. Hit the link above for details.
I can’t find the statistics for Romania, but I’m pretty sure the site linked named “in the US.” says “Employment per 1000 jobs”, i.e. not “per capita”.
By reading some of the comments I’m prone to think Bulgaria has hired people to praise their country everywhere Romania gets mentioned.
The national pride is infectious
considering that half of romanians live in rural areas and most of those by subsistence farming, it’s amazing there are engineers at all.
It’s an interesting dynamic, certainly.
hey Anil, i’m from romania too, yeah we have fast internet, and we have very bright people but that is not because of the education. Those engineers are so good because they are very motivated to learn by themselves, or study those things in other countries, and that is because we are a 3rd world contry, corruption, theft and other crap, we some of us are desperate to do somthing better, and put romania on the “GOOD” map, not the crappy one.
This internet acces we have here made us very stupid, almost anybody has internet acces, witch really is not a good ideea if you think about it, and the cable companies wich also offer internet services need the money, they have the infrastructure sorted out so they kinda force the internet on the people, they make you wanna pay for that, just because is very convenient for them to take your money, and the people here are so stupid that they buy anything just for the fun of it. And to support that truth…do a research on who buys the most expensive and exotic cars and other stuff…guess who, ROMANIAN people.
So not the education makes those engineers, i mean that starts the process, but no by any stretch of imagination, romanian education creates those engineers, but the willing to do something and get out of this shit hole of a country.
As for the internet of course wee need it, though many people have no ideea now to use it or they use it stupidly, but they are paying for it. I personally im glad we have acces to IT, and very cheap and yeah it is freaking fast.
Romanian people have way different thinking that US people or any other people for that matter, we are smart but poor, americand have a good living by default, if a may say it like that, so that motivation to do something great is not really there, when almost everybody has an ok life.
So the internet is so fast because the infrastructure is good and done for a long time, so they push trough the same infrastructure internet also and telephony, aaaand like the other guys said above this…50% of people live in rural areas, so to give 50% of romania good internet is’t kinda easy, and cheap,especially when those people like to pay for anything fancy
(yeah there was a time when internet was considered Fancy Schmancy)
And about the wifi spots, there a LOOOOT of them, especially in the cities, almost everywhere you cand get a wifi spot, and about what guy said earlier here, about not beeing secure to connect to a public wifi, people should first be educated about how to use the internet, who have to be carrefull, like you have to be at your home, office or whereever u use internet. A non secured wifi spot is the least of your problems with internet.
that’s it, and btw Anil, i had no ideea internet in romania was THAT fast, and i’m not that excited about that, knowing what shit hole i live in.
)
Well there is something certainly to be said for things that can’t be quantified like curiosity and drive
Florea Catalin…you are full of crap:|.
1) Nobody is forced to pay for the internet and i onestly doubt that lots of people pay for it becouse it is “fancy”. Usually the internet comes with the TV cable at a very low price (15 Euros) , so while most of the people , even some in the rural areas have a computer, why not have the internet too. Do i need to write an essay on the advantages of the internet for you? So no, most of the people don’t pay for the internet becouse they are persuaded to, but becouse they actually can and use it.
2) You said we don’t learn IT in school. Well, in Romania as in any other country in the world has good schools, with highly trained and skilled teachers, and also some completely useless schools. I’l have you know that there are some schools where IT and all those programming languages are actually tought at a very high level. It’s up to the students whether they want to study those things or not. I know becouse it is the case of my school. So before telling people that schools don’t actually teach you much, YOU should do your homework first. So to sum up, for those people (students) the educational system here works just fine; it could be much better, i agree, but it is definitely not as bad as you claim.
3) “do a research on who buys the most expensive and exotic cars and other stuff…guess who, ROMANIAN people.” What the hell is that? Yes, it is true, a lot of people buy expensive cars even tough they live in a single room flat ; i hope you realise that those people are not the well educated ones. But..” ROMANIAN people” ? I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody from a foreign country would say such a thing about us, but you are a romanian and you still put as all in the same pot. Shame on you! Really, shame on you! The fact that some thousands, or hundreds of thousands of people do something which may not be completely rational, this doesn’t mean that the entire “ROMANIAN” population (21 millions or so) is the same. Again, i am very dissapointed that it is a romanian guy who doesn’t sense the difference.
And no, it is not a shit hole you live in. Or…sorry if you actually live in a toilet. Romania is an amazing country with amazing people. There are those people you mentioned who indeed ruin our reputation all around the world and make our lifes difficult here too, but bear in mind that that is not ROMANIA, that is just the dark side of it. Your eyes are so blinded that you can’t see the rest anymore.
Anyway..to sum up…shame on you!
Sorry for the grammar mistakes. My english is obviously not perfect yet.
@ Ion,
Congratulations for your positive attitude and how you explained the things. This is the correct attitude.
@ Florea Calin: shame on you because you have this opinion about Romania, and you are a Romanian citizen as me and Ion! You shall learn first from were actually the European civilization started…
@ Anil…if you can visit Romania and see how nice and kind the people are here…and enjoy first the culture side of country and than internet access capability and so on…!
All the best to all of you!
It will be my second visit to the country and I look forward to going back!
Sorry,
my first post was a comment for 2 users. Nice website by the way and i am thankful to you because you can appreciate our country as it is (Romania). Can you please forward back to me last message in order to post is as a reply (i was nervous about one Romanian user comment and i did a mistake).
Greetings from Sibiu, Romania!
Thank you in advance!
Andrei A