High speed Internet? I’m still trying to find the “any” key!

EETimes.com – U.S. falls further behind in global broadband penetration — How can this be happening?

The United States continues to lose ground when the number of people with broadband communications connections here is compared to other countries.

U.S. broadband penetration among worldwide industrialized nations dropped from 12th to 15th place, according to broadband rankings released this week by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.



  1. undissembled says:

    Because the cable companies in the US have too much power?

  2. Improbus says:

    Because our government is owned by the highest bidder contributer.

  3. art says:

    U.S. broadband penetration among worldwide industrialized nations dropped from 12th to 15th place…
    That’s still 15 places higher than Mexico!

  4. Billabong says:

    Because it is harder to turn around an elephant than it is a horse.We are to big and slow to do anything well or quickly.

  5. undissembled says:

    5> Don’t forget the KY.

  6. snifner says:

    um… maybe the US isnt completely stupid and were waiting one more year for Wimax, instead of wasting money on crap.

    Wimax is the future… now shut up and wait for it.

  7. cheese says:

    We need Broadband over Power Lines. BPL! BPL! BPL! BPL and WiMax together! We could catch up FAST if we wanted to.

    From the broadband meetings I have attended, I was told the main holdup on BPL is liability protection. Very few states have this. Otherwise the technology is ready! They even have “notch” filters THAT WORK for the remaining ham radio operators in the USA who have been responsible for many of the holdups on BPL.

  8. Gig says:

    A story nationwide poll concerning broadband penitration was reported on /. a month or so ago and one of the stats said ~40% had no desire to have broadband.

    So the only way we are going to pump this number up is to force it on people and I really don’t see the need.

  9. James Hill says:

    Non-story: A better question is what percentage of a population has access to broadband, not its penetration rate.

  10. rasco says:

    # 9
    Agreed, and in the same vein as #10, not only access to it, but at what speed. I think we’re pretty low on the list for speed also.

  11. Matthew says:

    I have more than one friend on dial-up. Makes me freaking sick.

  12. ECA says:

    4,
    WELL or quickly…
    We were promised Video Phones back in the 70’s..

    12,
    More the 1…
    Iv got hundreds of people STILL on dialup, Just because of COST.
    This is a Very Rural area.. And the cable company has been bought out 3 times in 10 years.
    ADSL finally got here. And LOOK at what they want you to BUY..just to get CHEAP access.

    Corps will NOt install anything MORE then they HAVE TO, to get you the BASIC access and service.

    Its an OLD thing.
    changing what is ALready there to upgrade SUCKS because CORPS dont want to pay money, they want YOU to pay the money.
    They Wont take a Cut in pay, esp. the CEO and board mambers.
    you could have the Best idea in the world and have a fully upgradable Modular system design and THEY WOULDNT BUY IT.
    They NEEd to replace about 90% of the copper wire on Every pole.
    They havent/Wont/Aint started and they WONT start. Its free MONEY.

  13. stew says:

    Even with broadband I am a hostage to dialup speeds. I know they can run faster. Somebody needs to crank up the server speed.

  14. Milos Johanson says:

    What makes me sick is that in just about every town or small city you have a choice between one cable internet provider and one DSL provider. Usually both companies suck and since there’s no competition you can’t just go somewhere else. It’s impossible to get a good rate on just internet service. You have to buy crap you don’t want to get a good rate. The cable companies want to punish you by adding an additional $10 – $15 per month to your bill if you won’t sign up for their cable TV service, and the DSL companies want to make you buy phone service to get a break. I use a cell phone and hardly have time to watch TV so I’m screwed. I’m currently forking out a little over $50 per month for 5 Mbps internet service and I think that’s a little too high. Of course, if I got their TV service I could get it for $39.99. Where’s the competition to drive these prices down to a reasonable level?

  15. Jägermeister says:

    #3

    And 180 places higher than Burundi.

  16. Arturo says:

    Here are the dsl prices of the local telco in Bloomfield, IA. The cable company doesn’t offer internet service.

    Smokin’ 256k 4 times faster than dial up $34.95
    Sizzlin’ 384k 7 times faster than dial up $44.95
    Flamin’ 768k 14 times faster than dial up $69.95
    Scorchin’ 1.5m 25 times dial-up speed $99.95
    http://www.cmtel.com/internet/dsl.htm

    Strangely, CMTEL is installing fiber throughout town, but no one knows what the speed or pricing of this will be yet.

  17. MikeN says:

    What makes broadband speed so important. I think more people would be served if spent money to improve traffic speed on our roads.

  18. Thomas Ploch says:

    If you steal an image from another website, you ought to at least give credit. The image of the “Old Codger” comes from Freeform, Listener Sponsored WFMU, East Orange, NJ. http://www.wfmu.org The best radio station in the world!

  19. Jason says:

    #17: Wow! Talk about monopoly pricing! Do you have Clearwire out there?

  20. ECA says:

    14,
    DSL is interesting…
    Phone lines are designed to only Use Adible range of sound.
    There is ALOT of wasted Bandwidth..
    DSL uses that Extra area Around the audible range.
    Unless the Phone corp installs the Hardware your Line wont work, without the Audible TONE range.

  21. Greg Allen says:

    Of course, we’re behind in broadband considering the laissez-faire policies of conservatives. It’s totally predictable. Broadband will only be delivered where profitable. People elsewhere get nothin’.

    If America had only depended on the free-market — as the religion of conservatism preaches — people in Kentucky would still be waiting for electricity and phones.

  22. Hal says:

    #8… BPL is one of the worst methods of spreading braodband. It is a major RF polluter screwing up the airwaves with braodband radio noise. It is pushed by major power companies with no regard for the inviroment.

  23. ECA says:

    23,
    Along with that, is Bandwidth…
    There is Only so much you can put on a line.
    And a single or Double cable system Just cant do it, without loosing to capacitince and inductance… think WHY Cable went with Coax…
    Think of that Network Cable you got.

  24. Mike Voice says:

    How many of the countries with higher “penetration” sell broadband a la carte?

    The problem here in the US is what Milos describes in #15: They don’t want to just sell us broadband. They want us to buy a “package” of TV, Phone, and Broadband – and the sweet-spot for pricing seems to be 100USD/month.

    How many households are paying 1200USD/year for these “triple play” packages?


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