I am shopping for internet upgrades for JDB Consulting. Most of the options were either prohibitively expensive or not available. We are upgrading our VOIP telephones and more bandwidth is going to be needed. I’ve had Uverse at home for years and live less than 1/2 a mile from the office so I keep hoping it will become available.
Richi Jennings rounded up how other writers see the state of American broadband in his Computerworld IT Blogwatch column (December 31, 2013). Excerpts are below; the original column is preserved on the Wayback Machine.
Edward Wyatt bemoans broadband, because bandwidth:
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States. … But the speed of its Internet service is no match for the Latvian capital, Riga, a city of 700,000 [which] is at least two-and-a-half times that of San Antonio’s. … And the cost of Riga’s service is about one-fourth. … The United States…is falling dangerously behind…in what many people consider as basic a utility as water.
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In Riga, speeds average 42 megabits a second, but many users [get] 100 to 500. … The mayor of Riga said…“The technology makes this an even more attractive place to invest.” … There is ample evidence that faster broadband spurs economic growth. Read more
Goodnight, Zach Walton:
Clean water and electricity both started out as luxuries that only the wealthy could afford. As civilization progressed, they became more affordable and accessible to the point that they became utilities.
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Despite all this, you’re probably not going to see Internet access or speeds improving anytime soon. Most cities are still kept under the thumb of monopolistic telecoms that can charge whatever they want [so] American consumers will continue to be extorted by their friendly Internet and cable provider. Read more
So Greg Sterling shares his own experience:
Several years ago I switched my home ISP from Comcast to AT&T DSL [which] were the only two choices in my area. … As a practical matter what we received was 1 to 2 Mbps on average, generally at the low end of that range. … I made repeated attempts to address the problem. … It was incredibly frustrating. … AT&T delivered consistently poor service.
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Earlier this year…I “went back in” and investigated all the options. …. To my surprise (but not entirely) Comcast and AT&T were still my only choices. [That’s] a kind of metaphor for the sorry state of broadband in the US today. … These companies have no market or regulatory incentive to offer faster, cheaper internet. Read more
Meanwhile, Joel Naticchioni shares his own experience:
The part of this that really annoys me is that I am just 30 mi. out of…the 4th largest city in MA; the Internet [is] paint-dries-faster slow.
Meanwhile, my cousin in the equivalent of East Bum****, Italy has a 30/30 line. HE STILL GETS MILK FROM GOATS, YET HAS FASTER CHEAPER INTERNET!
In summary, your humble blogwatcher summarizes the summary of the summary: [You’re fired -Ed.]
Unlike other countries, the U.S. suffers quasi-monopolies, lack of regulatory incentives, and a near-absence of competition.
Excerpts from Richi Jennings‘ IT Blogwatch column for Computerworld.