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How Much Should Broadband Cost?
An anonymous reader writes "The difference in cost between broadband options seems to be the primary motivator for consumer spending, reports News.com. Frugal consumers are opting for the lower-priced DSL options, while those with more money to spend on services are opting for cable modems." From the article: "A year-and-a-half ago, pricing of DSL and cable modem service was roughly the same. But over the past year, the phone companies have launched an aggressive assault by dropping prices. At the end of 2005, the average price of DSL service was about $32 per month, roughly $9 less than cable, according to research firm IDC. AT&T has twice lowered the price of its DSL service and now offers its 1.5Mbps service for $12.99 for the first year."
I'm currently in Tokyo and I am paying about $12/month for a 40Mbps/5Mbps DSL line and the 50Mbps/10Mbps line is only about $15/month. Then there is 100Mbps fiber, but I don't know how much that is. Of course Asia is extremely wired, but come on how long has high speed internet been available in the US??? Long enough to have the price much lower for the bandwidth. Granted Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world, but New York is up there too. Perhaps the US companies just don't want to upgrade their infrastructure... which is probably the problem.