Report: U.S. Broadband Is Just Mediocre

[Guest]

A new report published by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) paints a rather mediocre picture of broadband access in the U.S.

Report: U.S. Broadband Is Just Mediocre : Read more

 

[Haserath]

Mine disconnects every once in awhile; I already knew this especially when I see other countries have 50mbps for pocket change.

 

[Guest]

If I had the download speeds of other Countries, I don't think I could afford the terabytes of hard drive space that I would require after just days of constant downloading.

Maybe having slow speeds is a good thing.

 

[ikyung]

Tokyo is a must visit city in Japan. Same with Seoul in S. Korea. When I went there as an exchange student for one year it was amazing. There is "internet" literally everywhere. When I did some sight seeing around the major cities there are touch screens in walls, streets, etc. There are certain "barcodes" around the tourist attractions which if you take pictures of with an application on your smartphone, it explained the history of the place. Full bars on my phone's connection EVERYWHERE.

 

[drwho1]

"The FCC concluded that prices for broadband access in the U.S. is "in the middle of the pack among OECD countries""

How exactly U.S prices are "in the middle"?

The broadbrand prices in the U.S are among the highest (if not the highest) everywhere! though our connection are far behind other countries while this other countries not only have higher connections but also CHEAPER prices.

 

[one-shot]

Sky is blue and bees buzz. Oh, Grass is green, too.

 

[kcorp2003]

[citation][nom]jackblack2323[/nom]If I had the download speeds of other Countries, I don't think I could afford the terabytes of hard drive space that I would require after just days of constant downloading.Maybe having slow speeds is a good thing.[/citation]

are you stupid? this will go great for the games i download from steam, much faster, and i do upload a lot of things to my megaupload account and I equally download as much. the price i pay for is ridiculously high for a 10Mbps/.5Mbps up. with this speed increase compare to other countries i can save some money on my electric bill, (keeping my computer on for big upload/download files)

 

[jrharbort]

And those are just the speeds for South Korea. Fiber Optic connections are pretty much the standard there, and not surprising considering how large the online gaming industry is there. It's also incredibly affordable compared to the rates in the United States for a similar service.

 

[TheViper]

America has 2 things going against it.

1. Low density.

2. Old routing and switching hardware in place.

The second problem came about because America started the Internet and has had to replace several generations of gear to upgrade speeds. Countries just getting in on the broadband act in the past 10 years have been able to start with much newer gear enabling higher speeds to begin with.

But it's getting better. I have cable (not FIOS or other fiber optic services) and a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and I get at max 31 Mbps. Uploads are still a paltry 3.5 Mbps.

 

[cuecuemore]

Count on the FCC to tell us our Interwebs suck...they're the problem. If we deregulated telecoms, we'd be able to compete with Korea and Japan.

 

[mcd023]

[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]"The FCC concluded that prices for broadband access in the U.S. is "in the middle of the pack among OECD countries""How exactly U.S prices are "in the middle"?The broadbrand prices in the U.S are among the highest (if not the highest) everywhere! though our connection are far behind other countries while this other countries not only have higher connections but also CHEAPER prices.[/citation]

I imagine for the euro and pound being stronger? just a guess tho

 

[meradz]

The other problem being that broadband companies in the US have a Fair Access Policy, discouraging creative use and advancement.

 

[ujaansona]

I have 2Mb/s only @ India & it's costly.

 

[dalauder]

Yet another sign that the U.S. is continuing its backward ways...sigh...

I love being American, but there are so many things that we don't bother fixing and claim is better because it's the "American Way." The U.S. only leads the world because the rest of it got destroyed twice in some huge wars. We need to start doing more things the correct way instead of calling backwards the "American Way."

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Pretty much the same information for the past several years.

 

[nebun]

this should not be a surprise....US continent is a lot bigger

 

[Guest]

Isn't it ironic that most major US broadband companies are capping bandwidth now? How can this country try to move forward in increasing speeds when there's a limit on bandwidth? I know that most people don't ever reach or exceed it, but for those that do use their internet to stream, download content, game, and etc....this is a major issue.

The major companies in the US could probably improve their networks and get our speeds up to date with the rest of the world, but they choose not to. They don't have any incentive to. It's all about dollars to them. More money in their pockets.

 

[curryj02]

The broadbrand prices in the U.S are among the highest (if not the highest) everywhere! though our connection are far behind other countries while this other countries not only have higher connections but also CHEAPER prices.

US broadband prices ARE NOT the highest, not even close when you consider that in many other countries (Australia, UK, large parts of Europe) you are charged on a usage model (ie. download caps). To get 'unlimited' internet in these countries would probably be even more expensive than your connections in the US if it was even offered. /end rant

 

[ironmb]

I live in Japan, and my current ISP issued me a modem up to 250mb, they installed fiber optic. I regularly never go below 50 mbs on speedtest... grant it.. the websites i go to max out at 50 mbs... My company garuantees me over 200 mbs. And it only costs me roughly 70$ a month.

 

[crisan_tiberiu]

I live in Romania. Fiber Optic Broadband 100 Mbps = 20 $/month(and u even get a mobile USB modem with a 7,7 Mbps for free), very stable, i didnt have a disconnect in the last 2 months ^^. But on the other hand i just give an example: OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 120 GB here costs 330 $, you in the US can buy it on Newegg for 210$. And this applys to all PC hardware. Everything else is more expensive here considering that the average income of a person here is 590 $/month and the minimum is 250$ ...and yea petrol costs here 1,96 $ /liter ... 1 US galon = 3,78 liters...do the math