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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 ANALYSIS 
5

Why US Broadband Is So Slow

Population density, delivery methods give Asia, Europe a leg up

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(Newser) – In terms of broadband, the US seems to lag behind the international pack, with slower, more expensive, less available Internet. As President Obama campaigns to improve America’s lot, Saul Hansell compares connection speeds in the New York Times. The US is middle of the pack, with an average speed of 5.2 megabits per second, compared to 3.2-6.4 Mbps for Europe.

That doesn’t look terrible—until you compare it to16.7 Mbps in Japan, or the 10-20 European city-dwellers enjoy. America’s DSL providers purposely give city folk the same speeds as suburbanites, instead of optimizing for denser populations. Faster fiber-optic cable is more widespread elsewhere, with 4.1 million US homes having fiber service to 8.2 million in Japan—but US providers are expanding.

Internet connections in the US are slower than those in Japan, but it's not as bad as you might think.
Internet connections in the US are slower than those in Japan, but it's not as bad as you might think.   (Shutterstock)
Internet connections in the US are slower than those in Japan, but it's not as bad as you might think.
Internet connections in the US are slower than those in Japan, but it's not as bad as you might think.   (Shutterstock)
The US mostly relies on slower cable connections, and its DSL is intentionally hobbled in cities.
The US mostly relies on slower cable connections, and its DSL is intentionally hobbled in cities.   (Shutterstock)
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5 comments
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DavePA
Mar 10, 09 11:18 AM CDT
This is greatly a measure of population density, as the article hints at. The lower the density of the population, the higher the costs involved to wire them up. I hate to sound like a corporate shill, but Verizon has been rolling out upgrades to their copper lines in many areas, including my home. I currently have a 20Mbit Down and 5MBit Up connection - which is very fast, even for my area. This is only possible because they are rolling fiber out in place of copper. This rollout will likely take decades to reach the rest of the country, but eventually it will and only then will 'fast' internet be available to all. Reply
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Chilblain
Mar 10, 09 2:45 PM CDT
Corporate shill.
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Addyp
Mar 10, 09 4:55 PM CDT
Yeah fios is sexy.
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aeternuslibertas
Mar 10, 09 6:46 PM CDT
the bulk of the population could care less.... most people always sign up for the cheapest dsl/cable bundle...(1.5mbps to 3.0 mbps down) .only a few of us really sign up for the packeges 10-->20 mbps down Reply
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radnip
Mar 11, 09 4:39 AM CDT
That's why our corporate executives get paid way less than their Japaneise counterparts: They're not as good. Oh wait... Reply
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