An estimated 15 percent of Americans still use dial-up to connect to the Internet. And they might as well. Because according to a new study by the Communication Workers of America, the typical real-time Internet connection speed in the United States isn’t that much faster. CWA’s Speed Matters survey found the median download speed in the U.S. to be a mortifying 2.35 megabits per second.
Pathetic. In Japan the median download speed is 63.60Mbps. In South Korea it’s 49 mbps. For crying out loud, in Finland it’s 21.7Mbps.
Last year I found a place slower than the US. No, Jaipur and Surat (not to mention Mumbai) India was way faster than anything I have seen here in Southern California.
That place I found slower? The Karafuu hotel on the east coast of the island of Zanzibar.
I think there is a parallel to this and the general lack of interest in the importance of having new infrastructure in USA. I consider the Telecom Act of 1996 the beginning of the end of USA importance from a communications point of view. I wish somebody in Washington DC will wake up before it is too late.
Depressing as stories like this are, we need more info. For example, how many carriers are there? One, or many, like here, and indifferent to the needs of their customers? What is the actual size of the net in Finland? The entire country or just a few cities? Same for Korea.
I would like to switch to Verizon Fios but they aren’t in my neighborhood yet, and nobody knows when they will be. If ever.
Not to defend by any means US ISP’s, but recall, however, you can fit the entire country of Finland in Montana with room to spare and its entire population does not meet the level of NYC. And its total taxation levels for many exceed 50%. So hardly an “apples to apples” comparison.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
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An estimated 15 percent of Americans still use dial-up to connect to the Internet. And they might as well. Because according to a new study by the Communication Workers of America, the typical real-time Internet connection speed in the United States isn’t that much faster. CWA’s Speed Matters survey found the median download speed in the U.S. to be a mortifying 2.35 megabits per second. 
Comments
Last year I found a place slower than the US. No, Jaipur and Surat (not to mention Mumbai) India was way faster than anything I have seen here in Southern California.
That place I found slower? The Karafuu hotel on the east coast of the island of Zanzibar.
Posted by Eric Welch at August 13th, 2008 at 8:00 amI think there is a parallel to this and the general lack of interest in the importance of having new infrastructure in USA. I consider the Telecom Act of 1996 the beginning of the end of USA importance from a communications point of view. I wish somebody in Washington DC will wake up before it is too late.
Posted by Thomas Lidforss at August 13th, 2008 at 8:40 amDepressing as stories like this are, we need more info. For example, how many carriers are there? One, or many, like here, and indifferent to the needs of their customers? What is the actual size of the net in Finland? The entire country or just a few cities? Same for Korea.
Posted by David Owens at August 13th, 2008 at 11:37 amI would like to switch to Verizon Fios but they aren’t in my neighborhood yet, and nobody knows when they will be. If ever.
Not to defend by any means US ISP’s, but recall, however, you can fit the entire country of Finland in Montana with room to spare and its entire population does not meet the level of NYC. And its total taxation levels for many exceed 50%. So hardly an “apples to apples” comparison.
Posted by Stan Lepeak at October 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 am