US ranks 28th in Internet connection speed.

[techs]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090825/tc_afp/ustelecombroadbanditinternet_20090825230334

US ranks 28th in Internet connection speed: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speed and is not making significant progress in building a faster network, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said the average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps) -- four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps.

Japan trails South Korea with an average of 15.8 mbps followed by Sweden at 12.8 mbps and the Netherlands at 11.0 mbps, the report said.

It said tests conducted by speedmatters.org found the average US download speed had improved by only nine-tenths of a megabit per second between 2008 and 2009 -- from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps.

"The US has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet," the report said. "Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries."

"People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed,"



"The US has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet," the report said. "Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries."
I must disagree. Our fat cat, competition free cable internet companies are leading the world in innovating new ways to charge more for the same product by capping our monthly downloads.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Yeah, it's pretty sad. I think the reason is there's more money to be made in giving us tiny, gradual increases and having us pay double the cost for a 10% gain in real download speeds.

 

[dmcowen674]

I've been posting about the slide downward for years.

It's documented on my website DSLModemsDirect.com where I won the political battle to get Americans to be able to buy a DSL modem.

At the time the phone companies did not allow anyone to go out and buy their own DSL modem, you had to rent them from the phone company.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
Yeah, it's pretty sad. I think the reason is there's more money to be made in giving us tiny, gradual increases and having us pay double the cost for a 10% gain in real download speeds.

Yea but don;t tell spidy that, he will just tell you how the poor cable companies need the extra money and all you dirty pirates are hurting them.

 

[jlee]

5.1 is average? Wow, average would be nice.

 

[Linflas]

Where on that CWA site does it give the 27 countries ahead of the US? It would be more meaningful to see where we rank in relation to other countries of similar size and range of population densities. If they really want to compare apples to apples they would pick similarly sized metropolitan areas in different countries and see how they relate in regards to speed, availability, and cost including the overall amount of government subsidies and relative tax burdens.

 

[pcslookout]

Not surprising

 

[rh71]

Wouldn't the usual argument of size apply if you're talking about an avg for a country? Considering all of Korea is barely bigger than the size of NY state, isn't it easier to deliver the best to everyone?

South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark and Taiwan were the top five countries listed in terms of access to high-speed Internet.

All tiny.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: rh71
Wouldn't the usual argument of size apply if you're talking about an avg for a country? Considering all of Korea is barely bigger than the size of NY state, isn't it easier to deliver the best to everyone?

South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark and Taiwan were the top five countries listed in terms of access to high-speed Internet.

All tiny.

Yes, this is the same thing with the same answer. Tiny rich countries can outbuild the US in broadband.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I've been posting about the slide downward for years.

It's documented on my website DSLModemsDirect.com where I won the political battle to get Americans to be able to buy a DSL modem.

At the time the phone companies did not allow anyone to go out and buy their own DSL modem, you had to rent them from the phone company.

link to news story of your superhero stunt?

 

[Dari]

And we are the fourth largest country in the world. This ranking is regurgitated every year but it still makes no sense. Concentration matters.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I've been posting about the slide downward for years.

It's documented on my website DSLModemsDirect.com where I won the political battle to get Americans to be able to buy a DSL modem.

At the time the phone companies did not allow anyone to go out and buy their own DSL modem, you had to rent them from the phone company.

link to news story of your superhero stunt?

6-10-03 Telcos allow U.S. retailers to sell DSL Modems

 

[ponyo]

Lack of competition is really hurting us IMO. We need a major third player to drive the prices down and to ncrease speed. Hopefully Clearwire or something like it can do that.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I've been posting about the slide downward for years.

It's documented on my website DSLModemsDirect.com where I won the political battle to get Americans to be able to buy a DSL modem.

At the time the phone companies did not allow anyone to go out and buy their own DSL modem, you had to rent them from the phone company.

link to news story of your superhero stunt?

6-10-03 Telcos allow U.S. retailers to sell DSL Modems

I'm pretty sure the "About" page on your commercial site is not a "news story".

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Why would the guy lie about that? He is not claiming he has found the cure to cancer.

 

[Marinski]

my speeds with comcast are crap. I used to get good speeds but now I think they capped or limited it on me because I cant go over a certain speed, it hits a wall.

 

[13Gigatons]

STOP LYING ABOUT SIZE AND POPULATION AS THE CAUSE FOR AMERICA'S LAME INTERNET!!!!!

We could easily build a world class 500megabit network in cities and suburbs if the ISP's were forced to or our politicians weren't completely corrupt.

Some attempts to build 100mbps community networks have been sued to death.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons


Some attempts to build 100mbps community networks have been sued to death.

That right there, is definitely bullshit. If they want to build it, there should be no problem with it.

 

[CptObvious]

I'm living in Seoul at the moment. Here's my result from Speedtest.net: Text

I'm more amazed by the mobile TV service here (they call it DMB here). The video quality is impressive and it works in the subways too.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
STOP LYING ABOUT SIZE AND POPULATION AS THE CAUSE FOR AMERICA'S LAME INTERNET!!!!!

We could easily build a world class 500megabit network in cities and suburbs if the ISP's were forced to or our politicians weren't completely corrupt.

Some attempts to build 100mbps community networks have been sued to death.

If size were the main issue, our densly packed areas such as NYC would have amazing network speeds and bumfuck nowhere would have shit. That isn't the case however.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
STOP LYING ABOUT SIZE AND POPULATION AS THE CAUSE FOR AMERICA'S LAME INTERNET!!!!!

We could easily build a world class 500megabit network in cities and suburbs if the ISP's were forced to or our politicians weren't completely corrupt.

Some attempts to build 100mbps community networks have been sued to death.

If size were the main issue, our densly packed areas such as NYC would have amazing network speeds and bumfuck nowhere would have shit. That isn't the case however.

See FIOS service deployment

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: CptObvious
I'm living in Seoul at the moment. Here's my result from Speedtest.net: Text

I'm more amazed by the mobile TV service here (they call it DMB here). The video quality is impressive and it works in the subways too.

The balance of terran, protoss, and zerg is amazing in starcraft. Almost harmonious...
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2329367&enterthread=y

:shiftyeyes;

Did you get to watch the series finale of the Averatec Intel Classic Season 3?

Originally posted by: rh71
Considering all of Korea is barely bigger than the size of NY state, isn't it easier to deliver the best to everyone?

New York
54,555 sq mi

South Korea
38,622 sq mi

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

While our Internet speeds should definitely be better, and suffer because of the near monopolies with only ONE cable company and ONE phone company usually allowed to operate in an area, there are other factors at work here. The US is a very big country with a large population. There are a lot of people spread out in a large area, especially the rural areas. The infrastructure for that isn't cheap nor instantaneous.

 

[rudder]

It's all about population density. Japan's cities have 10X the population density of ours to it is more economical to upgrade backbones and such.

 

[ultimatebob]

Spidey07 hasn't replied yet, so I'll reply for him...

Why do you guys think that high speed bandwidth is cheap? It's not! Hell... the cable companies need to charge at least $20 a month just to pay for my network consulting fees!

If you want high speed guaranteed bandwidth, get your own DS3 line, you cheap bastards!