This is how Internet speed and price in the U.S. compares to the rest of the world

[edhopper]

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/internet-u-s-compare-globally-hint-slower-expensive/

Even though the Internet was invented in the United States, Americans pay the most in the world for broadband access. And it’s not exactly blazing fast.

For an Internet connection of 25 megabits per second, New Yorkers pay about $55 — nearly double that of what residents in London, Seoul, and Bucharest, Romania, pay. And residents in cities such as Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris get connections nearly eight times faster.

We can't have nice things, otherwise the rich couldn't feel so special.

[kimbutgar]

1. When I was in Venice in March staying at in an old hotel

I was shocked how quickly my computer and iPad internet speed was. I was able to watch my Netflix one night with no glitches.

Then in Zurich on our way home the Internet worked faster than usual we are such a backward country in so many ways.

[edhopper]

2. We let business

dictate too much of how things work here.

[Equinox Moon]

37. NSA is what slows the Internet down

Our Democratic Federal Government spying on us is why the Internet is so slow.

[Matt_R]

39. Man I hate paying that extra 40 bucks to the cable company just so the NSA can spy on me...

for the sarcasm impaired.

[Doctor_J]

3. Profits before people, just like everything else is the US

[kimbutgar]

4. I heard you. Our political system works that way also.

[hobbit709]

5. I'm lucky. I got Google Fiber for $70/mo

I average 940+Mbps down and 950+Mbps up.

[DustyJoe]

6. jealous

In the backwoods of the 4-corners we have the privilege to pay $60 for 12mbps DSL which rarely exceeds 9mbps. Fiber is an unknown element except for between hubs.

[OregonBlue]

9. In podunkville Oregon we pay $60 a month for 5mbps which rarely exceeds 2mbps.

We don't have a cable company either. Everything is satellite or the slowest land line in the country.

[Crash2Parties]

35. Satellite Internet

My in-laws up in the mountains have dish Internet. Sure the D/L speed is only 4-5Mb/s and upload is in the Kb/s - that's just barely workable with all ad & tracker blockers cranked up so only text gets through. It's the latency & dropped packets, though, that really kills the usability.

The irony is that in 2000 the telecoms got paid an obscene amount by the Fed Gov to push out broadband everywhere. They took the money, spent the money but didn't build anything except new service to new housing developments during the boom. Now, 15 years later, with an additional influx of Federal cash, they finally put fiber all the way down the state highway my inlaws live on, all the way out to the coast. But there's no tapping off for the little people; the only endpoints are the city halls of the towns along the way.

[nini]

7. A friend of mine lives in Portugal

Last edited Sun Jun 5, 2016, 05:18 PM - Edit history (1)

TV, internet and 2 cell phones - 60 dollars a month.

Guess where I am going to retire?

[valerief]

44. AND no drug arrests! nt

[hunter]

8. We live in a free market economy where politicians can be bought and sold.

Do you hate free markets? What are you, a COMMUNIST!!!

[edhopper]

11. A Adam Smith quote would work here

and no, but i am a Socialist.

[pediatricmedic]

17. All the other countries mentioned are free market economies as well

Do you have an actual point?

[awoke_in_2003]

19. He was being sarcastic

and using a right wing argument

[hunter]

38. Why do you ask?

[passiveporcupine]

10. As long as it depends on fiber

the cost and availability will be prohibitive. The larger the country the more it costs to connect people by replacing existing infrastructure with fiber.

We need to get money invested in Googles Skybender project.

Project Skybender: Google's secretive 5G internet drone tests revealed

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/29/project-skybender-google-drone-tests-internet-spaceport-virgin-galactic

[dynamo99]

41. Not due to fiber cost

While it is true that cost goes up when population density drops (nothing to do with the size of the country), and the scattered houses in Death Valley and North Dakota cost more to connect, we're not a rural country anymore. 80% of the population lives in urban areas.

WiFi from the sky isn't the answer for most of us. It's dependent on good weather (rain or snow will play hell with your connection to Google's balloons), and the upload speeds will likely be dismal. The Guardian article doesn't give any speeds at all, other than "High frequency millimetre waves can theoretically transmit gigabits of data every second", which is nice except for it being 1) theoretical, and 2) that speed will be split between all the people who are connected. A solution for the hermit and farmer, maybe, but not great speeds and not for the rest of us.

Decent Internet is expensive because Comcast/Verizon/et al. are gouging us, not because it costs money to lay cable.

[edhopper]

42. exactly

[passiveporcupine]

62. In my tiny town, there is a small local ISP who is installing fiber as fast as they can

In the past few years, they've only run 10 miles (in town). That's not much, and it doesn't touch those of us in the sticks, which is where many of the people live in this area. I'm 8 miles from town on a little dead end road with just a scattering of houses on the last mile. Up to the last mile, it's a mile of farms, then our last mile is just private homes on acreage. Most of the homes here (well all except my cabin) are upper middle class to wealthy homes. Maybe just because of who lives here, they might get it to us, but it will still be many years, as we are an afterthought out here. I really don't expect to see it in my lifetime. There are miles and miles of farms and orchards and a few tiny towns in my county, that will be hooked up first.

So to me and many like me, I don't see fiber as an answer. If they ever did bring it out here, they would be able to provide access without having to use Century Link's phone lines, which I have to pay for, even if I don't use Century Link as my ISP. So tack on 20 a month just for using their phone lines and the max I can get on their phone lines is 10Mbps, no matter which service I use. I"d go with the small ISP, except for that extra 20 buck charge. Instead I have to use Century Link.

I don't think running fiber anywhere except more populated areas, is very affordable, and while most of the people live in urban areas, there are millions of us who don't, and we deserve internet at good price and speed too.

[Old Codger]

12. Yes we are

Treated like shit by big business and our politicians .. I am blessed with the wonderful speed of ,what's supposed to be 1.3m,but rarely makes it past.80 for the low low price of 39.99 the great frontier communications


I would be more than willing to pay more for a decent 3 or 4 down..

[C Moon]

13. How is it they get away with that? If we were to say, "Oh. I'm only going to pay $x this month..."

that wouldn't go over very well with the internet companies.

[Old Codger]

36. For here

They don't really care if we stay or not.. Only thing that makes it half OK is that it is pretty much unlimited no data caps..BUT Cricket cell phone service now has a truly unlimited 4G no caps $70 gives you that and text and talk.. also unlimited..trying it out to see if it is that good or not All I can get here via cell phone is H+ not LTE, still better than the dsl is..

[pansypoo53219]

14. higher taxes=investment. crapitalism=profits over investment.

[Person 2713]

53. +1

[rickford66]

15. We're in rural NY, fiber optic DSL

3.17 mbps downloading and 0.34 up. Blazing fast today. Netflix is usually OK but ACORN is usually buffering or crashing. The DSL and land line run around $89 plus extras and taxes.

[dembotoz]

32. sounds slow for fiber and generally they do not call the product dsl if it is fiber

the carriers and their sales folk lie their ass off
I recently was with my buddy who was thinking of finally getting internet to her home...she uses a company hot spot.....
anyway the att sales rep had been trained to tell customers that uverse is fiber to the home....it clearly is not.

we went around and around a bit with her and her super....they were clearly mistrained.

i sell internet to businesses and have a rather good idea of what fiber is and what fiber is not.

[zentrum]

16. It's the same for prescription drugs

We are absolutely being milked by corporations in ways that other governments in other countries protect their people from.

[gregcrawford]

21. Oh, just wait...

... 'til they ram the TPP down our throats! Take the worst-case scenario you can imagine and multiply it by a factor of bazillion. How much will the American people endure before they say, "E-fuckin'-NOUGH!"

I'm a Liberal down to my DNA, but I'm a Liberal who can snap-shoot the seeds out of a grape, off-hand! You've been warned, corporatist scum!

[zentrum]

28. I read you.

[gregcrawford]

18. I recall reading not long ago...

... that a metropolitan region of Kentucky or Tennessee had a municipally-operated system that gave its customers the fastest connections in the country at a fraction of the cost that the behemoths were charging. Of course, Comcast, or one of those behemoths, was suing because it was cutting into their monopoly.

Where's a nice, shiny guillotine when you need one?

Fuck almighty, I hate those people.

[Lars39]

22. Chattanooga, TN

[gregcrawford]

24. Thank you for the clarification!

[KamaAina]

23. Chattanooga, TN

Longmont, CO has a similar setup. Both evolved out of control systems for public electric utilities. Why Santa Clara, CA, which is in the heart of $iliValley and has one of the few public utilities in California doesn't have one is beyond me.

[gregcrawford]

26. Here in central Vermont...

... we have a group that has been trying to get a fiber optic system off the ground for years. They did their homework, but the last Republican governor we had sandbagged their efforts because he had his knee pads on for Verizon, which had the state-wide monopoly at the time. EC Fiber hasn't given up, but it's been slow going. Maybe it'll happen before I'm fertilizer, but I'm not optimistic.

[Rex]

20. Take it up with AT&T they own all the phone lines.

And they also own a few politicians.

[totodeinhere]

59. We need to take it up with companies like Comcast as well since they deliver Internet

via either cable or fiber optics, not phone lines. And they also own politicians.

[pediatricmedic]

25. Article is rather limited

It mentions limited competition, but it is more complex then that.

Some of the reasons are:
1. Limited competition
2. Building from older infrastructure, first isn't always better when you have to upgrade everything.
3. Geography, US is much larger with a more spread out population
4. Different rules and regulations, many which prevent and stifle competition in the US.
5. US consumers are not as well educated or aware of options

[dembotoz]

29. yep you nailed it

[gregcrawford]

30. Those are all valid points...

... but the corporatists have inflated, contorted, and exploited them to their own advantage, and to our disadvantage.

This is one of many powder kegs that will ignite America's next civil war. Substitute corporatists for the machines, and you've got "Terminator" all over again. Or substitute any corporatists for the antagonists in any zombie thriller. Zombies, robots, or corporatists; they're all intent on the annihilation of decent people.

Hand me a grenade, will you?

[napi21]

34. Of all the reasons you listed, #5 is at the bae of it all!

As much as I've tried over the years to keep well informed, I was shocked by a lot of the things my son & DIL told me about living in Europe. Internet speed is just the tip of the iceberg. Healthcare is a right! My grand daughter is a doctor in Germany as is her husband. Both of them have said there's no way in the world they would ever practice medicine in the USA. The prices the people are penalized to pay are obscene. May son paid for her doctorate degree....$1,000 a semester! She had a baby l in May of last year. She gets 8 months paid maternity leave, and her husband gets 6 weeks, all to help mother, father & baby to get to know & love one another.

I'm not saying EVERYTHING is better in Europe, it's not, but I really believe if the American people knew of a lot of the very advantageous things there, they'd be insisting we adopt some of them.

[valerief]

45. Michael Moore has tried to tell people in Where to Invade Next. nt

[RoccoR5955]

50. Many of those are merely excuese, not reasons.

Building from old infrastructure is not as bad as building from no infrastructure. At least you have the plans of where the system goes. You just have to upgrade hardware, and in some cases cable. It may cut into profits, but so be it.
Especially the one about the US being much larger and spread out. Why then don't cities have better speeds for less money?
Regulations are a stock excuse, as the businesses want to get away with anything they can.

[MuseRider]

27. LOL this just kills me.

We get 3 megabits per second on a GOOD day and only for a tiny amount of time for $40.00. On a normal day it will take 30 minutes to load a regular 2 minute video. That is the BEST we can get out here in the country but close to a city that has provided fiber to a business area less than a mile from here but would not even consider letting us ask if they would run it out here and the little community pay for it.

[shanti]

31. try $80 a month in sacramento

that includes all the "taxes and fees". comcast has a monopoly and it SUCKS!

[Locrian]

40. same here in indiana

comcrap with NO cable tv, etc JUST internet and it's $80.

[Orrex]

46. $90 in Pennsylvania

Internet only.

[RufusTFirefly]

33. Free stuff! Free stuff!!

How dare we call for a robust infrastructure and affordable access!!

That's un-American!!

Literally.

Reliable, high-speed, affordable Internet? To quote a famous server host: Never, ever gonna come to pass.

[valerief]

43. They pay less for broadband AND they get universal healthcare. nt

[freebrew]

51. Other countries don't have the cool military stuff...

I mean, would you really give listening to A-10s fly over your house at all times of the day?
What about all the nifty drones? Murder from the sky...

And we could never afford things like a $35M dollar(and up) airplane that won't catch the 'enemy'.

Yeah, $60 a month for 10Gb a month. A little faster than modem.

[valerief]

63. The military planes fly over my house after midnight. Thoughtful, huh?

And Congress only spends 60% of our taxes on the military. We should be grateful it's not 100%. Yet.

[RoccoR5955]

47. My girlfriend in the Netherlands

gets 100mbps for around 45 euros a month. Here I pay about 50 bucks for a lousy 30mbps. Oh, and next year they are saying that they will double the speed.
I guess I should mention that this includes TV and phone. Here that would cost me about $150/month or more.

This is outrageous, and needs to stop.
The reason for such a difference, I believe is that there is a lack of competition here. People like me are stuck with one cable company to get Internet from. FIOS doesn't run here, and they are not planning to run it here any time soon. Satellite is too damn slow.
So I have one option. No competition, they can charge whatever they like, and people have to live with it.

[miyazaki]

54. By American standards thats pretty good.

Or at least compared to my pitiful situation. 30 megs with tv and phone for fifty bucks? I'm paying 41 bucks for 2.5 megs (on a good day), nothing else bundled.
I have no other option.

[closeupready]

48. I just recently switched to a new internet provider - it's 200mps for about $55.

But this offer seems to be in response to competitive pressure with the other main digital provider in New York City. It used to be a one-man show, and this changed about 3 years ago. Very happy camper here.

[FlaGranny]

49. I got 124 Mpbs upload

and 24 Mpbs down yesterday on a speed test. I pay, I think around $70-80 per month. It's hard to tell exactly because I have the triple play package with Comcast/Xfinity. Quite pleased with the speed when downloading a movie - it starts to play within 6 to 10 seconds. Not pleased with the price though. I find that high speed is not really worth it when you are just browsing the internet. Then the speed depends on web sites most of which are not that zippy and you don't really notice much difference between 10 Mpbs or 100 Mpbs.

[HuckleB]

52. Indeed. It's ridiculous. Ugh.

[prairierose]

55. I feel pretty lucky...

I pay $58/mo for 47 Mbps down & 7 Mbps up on cable. It is pretty steady except occasionally on Friday or Saturday nights.

[annabanana]

56. Internet access needs to be considered INFRASTRUCTURE

and regulated as such.

[dembotoz]

57. if you look at our roads and bridges i am not sure that would be a good thing

[Kablooie]

58. Here in LA I get 60Mbps for about $54.

Not terrible but still a long ways from some other countries.

But at work I get 930Mbps and they pay me to use it.

[4Q2u2]

60. Promises, Promises

That break up of MA Bell was going to do wonders for out pocket.
Deregulation is great and "Competition" will lower prices.

All you have to do is read up on the bid rigging of phone carriers for certain area codes to know we were going to get
screwed. The Feds did nothing.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

61. "So why are Americans paying more for slower service? The answer: There’s limited competition"

Wrong.

They're paying too much for too little because companies have total contempt for the American consumer and they know they can get away with it.

Years ago I went over to a friend's house who was having problems connecting and their DSL provider claimed it was their computer at fault.

I searched for the model number of their modem and discovered it was one that was recalled years before in France for being faulty. Obviously the American company bought up these crappy modems for a few pennies and then sold them to customers here and then instructed their customer service to tell people it wasn't the crappy, recalled, hand-me-down modem's fault.

[phylny]

64. Here in Virginia, the governor's office is doing a survey

of where we do and do not have adequate service. The map is telling:

http://technology.virginia.gov/ru-online-map/

Our Internet "service" is cobbled together between Hughesnet and two Verizon MiFi units. Our bills would make your head spin, and our service is inadequate.