Why is Broadband More Expensive In The US?

Funny, the text in this article does not seem to agree with the data in the charts. Especially the closing paragraph saying "The US is the only country in the world that provides a fast streaming cable service to everyone, he says." I would think that streaming is a software use of internet connection...and that it would work so much better in S.Korea.

I thought I read somewhere that a bunch of taxpayer funds went into improving the infrastructure to provide internet to places it may not have been worth the company investing the up front costs. So...if the U.S. is charging more to invest more in the infrastructer, where is that advanced infrastructure?

Drew K

Why?

Take a look at the populations and land mass of the countries mentioned, compared to the US.

South Korea is great; if the US had 50 million people concentrated in an area the size of New England, we would have faster internet too.

The US taxpayer also covers the tab for a major part of those country's military defense, which frees up lots of money for their governments to help things along.

It's because it's easier to purchase politicians in the USA, and they set the rates.

The infrastructure is there, and paid for already. So, why are the rates so high? The rates stay high because the politicians are there, and paid for already, too.

Lotta truth there. Few cities have true competition for this. Many municipalities award contracts for phones, internet cables, etc. to just one company, which then has a monopoly.

Where I live I have 1 'choice' for DSL, no option for a cable internet connection. My only other option would be a satellite system like Hughes Net - but my experience with satellite TV was disappointing due to the service interruption from rain storms. My bundled services are at better rates, though, than that chart.

And where I live, I have ZERO choices for DSL, and ZERO for cable (nearest cable is only about 5 miles away, but I'd have to pay for all of the installation, get all permits to cross other properties, etc. I suppose I could spend a year trying to get all of the neighbors along the way to join in by setting up a corporation . . . Not gonna happen). Satellite companies regularly send out the "You're pre-approved!" ads, but each time we reply, they "discover" that they can't serve our area. One recently said that they would install equipment on a non-refundable basis, with a required two-year sign-up, but no guarantee that we'd have a useful connection. Cost would average about $95/month for that time, for basic cable. Internet and phone would be about $40/month, EACH, in addition. Premium channels would be further additions to the cost.

I have a MODEM link, which on a good day will sometimes show about 800K; I've never seen it rise to as much as 1 MBaud. Usually, it starts high, and drops over a few minutes' time to maybe 150k. Service is often down for anywhere from seconds to days. Local phone lines are voice grade, installed about 40 years ago, and the phone company has said bluntly that they will "never" upgrade. When I had dial-up, I once saw 28k, but usually speed was in the high teens or low twenties (and that's K's, not M's).

I am the newsletter editor for a local group with about 30 members. Roughly half still get snail-mailed copies because they either cannot get Internet at all, or have such poor download speed that a 1 - 2 M document can't be received.

YouTube videos typically begin to stutter or freeze at around 10 - 20 seconds (and often, this is before I can skip the advertising that precedes it). Downloading a 3-minute video may take 15 minutes, or it may lock up and not work at all.

Frankly, I do not believe the article's claim about what percentage of homes in the US have wired broadband. Ours is not an unusually rural area, nor especially poor, except in terms of infrastructure. Most of our state has a lower population density.

I agree with Robin. I live in the DC area and have a choice between FIOS and Comcast. Both are more expensive than the price quoted. They have left out the mandatory equipment rental. While our household penny pinches on entertainment, most of our neighbors pay at least twice the posted rates since they choose the maximum cable channels. They complain but do not opt to pay less for less.

Just think,

We used to think paying $25.00 USD /month for a land line was bad!

And the worst part is I am subscribed to Comcast's Triple Pay where the carrier provides you with one data line and charges you for three services. I should have my ducking head examined.

I wish I could wean my wife off this crap but in the interest of domestic harmony, it's a price I'm grudgingly willing to pay. She wants the 'landline' service and the crap we call cable TV to go along with all our data packets.

We all have cell phones, so why do I keep my legacy landline so telemarketers can fill up my voice mail box?

As for cable TV, there ain't much there worth watching, and I could get most of my fill of talking heads from OTA DTV.

Unfortunately, if you just want data (not bundled with the other useless crap), the price is nearly the same. I would dump Comcast in a heartbeat if it were not for the fact that 5 of the 6 of us have very desirable email addresses that are easy to remember because it is just our first and last names @comcast.net (we were early adopters especially given our very common monikers).

This is another example of where de-regulation did not create the competition and benefits to the consumer the way it was promised. A the article said, it has led to consolidation and monopolies (duopoly where I am). Airlines are the other i can think of. Allowing large corporations to follow their own narrow self interests with out consideration of public consequences is not always good for us.

Just sayin'.

$50 is cheap for harmony. Discord takes years off your life. Easy to remember email addresses are also valuable.

There actually is competition just not in most neighborhoods. Running cable or fiber is expensive so there is not much competition. Only in the most fertile areas will you have more than one service. However, the neighboring town ran their own cable and those rates are half ours.

We are fortunate in that we do have competition with Verizon's FiOS in the neighborhood and that helps contain the rates somewhat, but it seems the game they play is just "stealing" customers with low intro rates, then sticking it to 'em until the contract is up, then the other guy "steals" them back again. Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseam.

You're right about the low cost of harmony and easy emails for everyone to use.