Ask Slashdot: When and How Did Europe Leapfrog the US For Internet Access?

New submitter rsanford, apropos of today's FCC announcement about what is officially consided "broadband" speed by that agency, asks In the early and middle 90's I recall spending countless hours on IRC 'Trout-slapping' people in #hottub and engaging in channel wars. The people from Europe were always complaining about how slow their internet was and there was no choice. This was odd to me, who at the time had 3 local ISPs to choose from, all offering the fastest modem connections at the time, while living in rural America 60 miles away from the nearest city with 1,000 or more people. Was that the reality back then? If so, what changed, and when?

Comments

Simple Really

[Anonymous Coward]

You see, the internet is all about the cloud these days. Most parts of Europe are cloudier than the U.S., ergo, they get better internet access.

Re:Government Intervention

[myowntrueself]

We subsidized something, it turns out it certainly wasn't broadband.

I think you subsidized the bonus payouts to the telco executives...

Don't worry I'm sure the benefits will trickle down through the economy
LOL

Re:Government Intervention

[mrchaotica]

I remember back on 2004. My girlfriend in Japan had 100/100Mb fibre and it cost her about ã20/month.

I don't believe you (about the "girlfriend" part, not the "fiber" part).