The Problems with Broadband in America

Tenken writes "Salon has an article about the state of broadband in America. After seeing what many other countries have accomplished with their broadband markets, namely Japan, Korea, and (gasp) even Canada, the current state of affairs in the U.S. is looking pretty dismal. I'm sure I'm not the only one tired of paying $45 a month just for cable internet." From the article: "Across the globe, it's the same story. In France, DSL service that is 10 times faster than the typical United States connection; 100 TV channels and unlimited telephone service cost only $38 per month. In South Korea, super-fast connections are common for less than $30 per month. Places as diverse as Finland, Canada and Hong Kong all have much faster Internet connections at a lower cost than what is available here. In fact, since 2001, the U.S. has slipped from fourth to 16th in the world in broadband use per capita. While other countries are taking advantage of the technological, business and education opportunities of the broadband era, America remains lost in transition."

Comments

It's the Geography, stupid!

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of Europe and Japan have much denser populations than the US. They also have fewer cities to lay cable through, etc etc. Don't you realize some towns in this country still don't have landline phones? Yeah, it's true.

This is a huge country. It takes time. It sucks, but it's true.

Re:The Least Among U.S.

[MightyMartian]

Jeebus, through his most faithful servants, communication company lobbiests and crooked politicians, will make sure that the Internet remains far behind the rest of the world. Worshippers of Jeebus might learn about evolution, cosmology and Pamela Anderson's breasts off the Internet, and then they'll become liberal Christians, atheists, or worst of all, Catholics!