Two-Thirds of US Internet Users Lack Fast Broadband 402
jbrodkin writes "Two-thirds of US Internet connections are slower than 5 Mbps, putting the United States well behind speed leaders like South Korea, where penetration of so-called 'high broadband connectivity' is double the rate experienced in the United States. The United States places ninth in the world in access to high broadband connectivity, at 34% of users, including 27% of connections reaching 5 Mbps to 10 Mbps and 7% reaching above 10 Mbps, Akamai says in its latest State of the Internet Report. That's an improvement since a year ago, when the United States was in 12th place with only 24% of users accessing fast connections. But the United States is still dwarfed by South Korea, where 72% of Internet connections are greater than 5 Mbps, and Japan, which is at 60%. The numbers illustrate the gap between expectation and reality for US broadband users, which has fueled the creation of a government initiative to improve access. The US government broadband initiative says 100 million Americans lack any broadband access, and that faster Internet access is needed in the medical industry, schools, energy grid and public safety networks."
Not clear in TFA.. (Score:3, Insightful)
It isn't made really clear whether this is 'availability' as in people have the option, or actual people having the actual connection.
Considering the pricing schemes I've seen in the US, the former option seems to be much more likely than the latter.
Usual Excuses (Score:5, Insightful)
Cue the usual excuses about it being simply too difficult to offer broadband in such a big country as the United States.
Somewhere far beyond a bunch of ghostly settlers are looking at their descendants very, very ashamed.
Before the inevitable... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's not because of low population density - for example most Nordic countries have typically much lower ones. And considering how situation with cellular coverage sort of mirrors the broadband one...
Re:Not clear in TFA.. (Score:1, Insightful)
By that reasoning Nigera has a very good availability, as long as you are willing to pay for digging fibre long distances.
Re:Nordic had to do it (Score:4, Insightful)
Which is part of another oft-forgotten factor - those living in rural areas are relatively few and far between. With the emphasis on "few" they don't strongly influence the statistics in the first place.
The US apparently has even slightly higher percentage of urban population than, mentioned in TFS, South Korea; and quite notably higher than Japan (though of course those two can't be directly compared, having much higher population densities)
Re:Nordic had to do it (Score:2, Insightful)
say hi to the huge gorilla in the room.... capitalism.
other countries think broadband for everyone is a great idea, and fund it.
in the US, that would get you labeled as a communist.
enjoy your slow intertubes.
Re:Did they ask how many want it (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, I know a number of farmers who use the internet an awful lot.
From real time weather forcasts at harvest time (don't want to cut the grain in the rain) to spot prices for their products(pork belly futures)
Then there is contacting hauliers to truck their stuff away to ordering all sorts of stuff online like they used to do from the Sears Catalog.
Re:Is this a problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Before the inevitable... (Score:5, Insightful)
The government did the highway system, not private companies that decided that they had enough extra money to run the roads through the middle of nowhere. The US government has focused on funding companies that provide technology to the military, but has not done anything to encourage technology in the private sector. Startup tech companies have really died off since the tech crash of 2001-2002, and there has been very little recovery since then to ENCOURAGE people to go into the science and technology fields, except of course for medicine...where you find drugs to improve your skin, but it may cause heart attacks, strokes, kidney and/or liver failure, anal leakage, and other problems.
What will happen (Score:5, Insightful)
I can tell you what will happen with this government initiative. They'll do some more studies. They'll have lots of meetings with the telecommunications corporations. They'll form some committees. They'll give some tax money to the industry to encourage the development of improved broadband offerings. The industry will pocket the money and nothing will really change. On the books it'll look like they spent it all on expanding and improving the infrastructure but virtually nobody will see an improvement.
Re:Did they ask how many want it (Score:5, Insightful)
People on tech sites tend to vastly over estimate the need for, let alone the desire of, many for high speed internet.
One of the most insightful statements I have read here on Slashdot. We often forget that we are so focused on technical needs that we miss what "real people" really need or want.
Hell, you can enjoy life just fine without touching the net for weeks.
Well...now...that's just blasphemy. :-p
Seriously, though. Excellent post. Technology is fun, but it's not everybody's (most people's) cup of tea.
Geography plays a role? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The way of things (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, I remember living in Austria 10 years ago, and many places charged per megabyte. Broadband penetration at the time was EXTREAMELY limited. Why? Because its freakin hard and expensive to run fiber through those mountains.
However, the entire country of Austria is the size of the state of Maryland, with half its population living in Vienna. Germany is the size of Montana, and Switzerland is just slightly bigger than Austria, but not as big as Germany. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland can all fit inside the state of Texas, and still have room for Luxemburg and a few other small countries.
Shoot, the entire CONTINENT of Europe is only 2/3rds the size of the CONTINENTAL US, yet the population is about equal to Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined.
What does this mean? The population of the US is way more spread out than the rest of the world.
Shoot, remember how I said that Germany was the size of Montana? Look at the population difference, Germany, roughly 80 million in 2000, Montana, roughly 500,000 in 2000.
Remember those costs that I mentioned earlier about Austria complaining about the costs of running fiber through those mountains? I wonder what the cost is to run fiber out to Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas, and how much it would cost to run broadband to each of those users homes. Pretty sure it won't be offset by paying $19.95 a month for service.
I am sorry, but there is a perfectly good reason that the AVERAGE speed of broadband in the US is not the same as the AVERAGE speed of broadband in the rest of the world.
In our defense, Russia is just barely above us, China, Canada, Mexico, India and Brazil are below us. What a concept - big countries with a lot of area rank low on the list! Gee, I wonder why?