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In Finland, Elisa Viihde also offers HDTV over internet and it works just fine.

The data is there all right. Here are a couple of maps from Finland - I don't actually know how they gather this data, but it's really thorough: http://www.elisa.fi/kuuluvuus/index.php / http://www.dna.fi/yksityisille/puhe/Kuuluvuus/kuuluvuuskartta/Sivut/Default.aspx

I think that the maps need to be this precise because a lot of people have second homes or cottages somewhere outside the cities, and naturally one would like to use the same operator everywhere.

Wimax isn't real 4G. Its just a crappy extension of Wifi. Hence the spottyness.

Here at Tampere I'm able to get 8Mbps 10km from the city with the good old 3G network using HSPA+. Beats my ADSL over POTS. And the connection degrades gracefully via WDCMA -> EDGE -> GPRS as you reach countryside. See our coverage map. Carriers here are ignoring Wimax and are building LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks already. Check out Oslo or Stockholm for city wide operational networks if you're visiting.

Ha, you primitive USians. Bow down in front of our superior socialist mobile market.

Even the donkeys in Portugal have higher speeds then you !

Here's a coverage map for one of our local operators in Finland.

I happen to live over 10km from the City of Tampere and still get 8Mbps download 800k upload of stable stream of data transfer. And soon we'll have a 4G / LTE network that'll able to give about 40 / 5 Mbps. Still slower than my 100MB fiber at home though...

Most people have no idea how cell service works. They complain that they have no service at home, not looking at the coverage map that shows a poor spot.

Having no service is a quite valid complaint. The poor spot is just the cause. These days I pretty much expect to have enough coverage for making a phone call in all everyday places. (having no coverage when trekking would be ok, even welcome.) 3G is a different story, as I don't expect it to work everywhere outside cities. Yet. I definitely don't expect dropped calls within a city / town / anything with population over 500 persons.

Map If this works abroad, it describes the coverage rather well. (White areas don't have reception and in the the light blue areas you need external antenna.) My provider uses a different network, but is pretty much comparable to that one.

The number of towers is irrelevant, as the cost to maintain them must vary wildly. You might as well compare the population densities; Finland has half as many people per square km as USA (16 to 31). Since almost 100% of Finland is covered by at least one GSM network (see coverage maps from Sonera, Elisa), the maintenance cost of the networks per person should also be higher.

I should have figured that you'd be in New Zealand or somewhere equally lacking in decent internet access (South Africa, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia...)

You neglect to mention which ISP you are with, but perhaps you might be best to upgrade your plan a step or two:

Telecom (Xtra) has "Go" at NZ$39.95/mo with a 3GB cap, or "Explorer" at NZ$49.95/mo with a 10GB cap.
https://www.telecom.co.nz/broadband/select/1,10627,205728-204466,00.html

TelstraClear has their PDQ Launch 256kbps/Turbo 2+mbit options at NZ$24/mo or NZ$36/mo plus the NZ$2.95/1GB or $11.95/10GB/mo for usage (based on the 1GB cap, can I assume you have PDQ launch+1GB?) http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/residential/homeplan/internet/pdq-broadband/speed-and-usage-plans.cfm

I'm sure ihug, orcon and slingshot all have their plans too - perhaps it is time for a change. ...myself, I could never move back to NZ from my 100mbit/unlimited (or 110mbit with some isps)broadbandy goodness. My bills would sting too much.

Many people here seem to be unaware of the lack of Wi-Fi hotspot coverage in Europe. And I didn't even mention the word free. In Finland, the Wi-Fi coverage is very spotty, unless you buy a subscription for unlimited service (and even these services are usually available only in limited areas). The advantage of 3G-based mobile broadband is that it covers a huge area, nearly the whole country (there are still many problematic areas, though). So you can you use the connection nearly everywhere and you don't have to worry finding a Wi-Fi hotspot when you want to check you email etc.

And people who flippet out by the 10 euros/day remark: Go read the article again. The remark was in the context of international roaming, which is horrendously expensive in Europe. 10 euros/day for unlimited data roaming might not be too bad compared to the usual rates the carriers charge for this. When you're in your home country, these services can be quite cheap. Generally the prices start from about 10euros/month for 384kb/s unlimited access and go to 20euros/month for 1Mbit/s unlimited or 30euros/month for 2Mbit/s unlimited access. (These prices are from the price lists of major carriers in Finland: http://saunalahti.fi/gsm/mobiililaajakaista.php, http://www.elisa.fi/matkaviestinta/liittymat/hinnasto/, http://www.sonera.fi/Puhelin+ja+liittym%E4/Liikkuva+laajakaista). Somebody commented in this discussion that mobile broadband that covers the whole country for 40$/month will maybe happen in 20 years. Well, it is already reality in Finland.

Coincidentally, in todays edition of Helsingin Sanomat (the largest newspaper in Finland) there was an article about the rising popularity of "mobile broadband" (article in Finnish only): http://www.hs.fi/talous/artikkeli/Langattomalla+laajakaistalla+valtava+kysynt/1135234701006. Although the article talks more about the marketing of the HSDPA modems for laptops, it also mentions that the carriers expect that during this year about 10% of their clients will have subscribed to mobile broadband services. So the shift from Wi-Fi hotspots (that are nearly non-existent in Finland) to mobile broadband accesss is already happening - at least in Finland. I would imagine the situation is nearly identical in other Nordic countries also, and maybe in other countries in Europe.