US lags in broadband adoption and download speeds

[Terminator02]

U, S, A! We're number nine! Wait, nine? At least according to a recent broadband survey by the FCC, yes. The good ol' US of A ranked ninth (out of the 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in fixed broadband penetration on a per capita basis, and 12th in terms of pure percentage -- behind the UK, South Korea, Iceland, the Netherlands, and plenty of others. Though, granted, these nations lack the sprawling amber waves of grain that America must traverse with cables. The US also trailed in wireless broadband adoption, ranking ninth yet again, behind the likes of Ireland, Australia and Sweden. Worse still, even those with broadband reported slower connections than folks in other countries. Olympia, Washington had the highest average download speeds of any US city with 21Mbps (New York and Seattle tied for second with 11.7Mbps), but was easily topped by Helsinki, Paris, Berlin, and Seoul (35.8Mbps). Well, at least we beat Slovenia... if only just barely.[/p]

Source (Engadget)

 

[Dangy]

I'm kinda surprised Norway and Sweden are above us.

I thought the only good thing Norway had was Black Metal.

 

[DSGamer64]

I find it odd that Canada is higher ranked then most seeing as how our internet services are fucking expensive, and the fastest download speed for residential is dependant on where you live, in most cities it's only like 50Mb.

 

[moerik]

I find it odd that Canada is higher ranked then most seeing as how our internet services are fucking expensive, and the fastest download speed for residential is dependant on where you live, in most cities it's only like 50Mb.

Mine is 2.78Mb, and I am in a small town with a population of 7000... shocking, isn't it?

 

[Terminator02]

the chart is only for the % of households that have internet access

 

[Pyrmon]

I find it odd that Canada is higher ranked then most seeing as how our internet services are fucking expensive, and the fastest download speed for residential is dependant on where you live, in most cities it's only like 50Mb.

Dude, where the fuck do you get 50 mb/s?

 

[trumpet-205]

Why am I not surprised?

US is also the only major country left that is not using EMV (chip and pin) credit card, until very recently.

 

[DSGamer64]

I find it odd that Canada is higher ranked then most seeing as how our internet services are fucking expensive, and the fastest download speed for residential is dependant on where you live, in most cities it's only like 50Mb.

Dude, where the fuck do you get 50 mb/s?

Rogers Ultimate, 50Mb down, 2Mb up, 175GB of monthly usage. A friend of mine has Rogers Ultimate, but then again he doesn't have television so the cost of it outweighs the need for having a full fledged cable package.

 

[CarbonX13]

I find it odd that Canada is higher ranked then most seeing as how our internet services are fucking expensive, and the fastest download speed for residential is dependant on where you live, in most cities it's only like 50Mb.

I'm in Vancouver and I only have 18MB. =.= I'm surprised Canada even gets ranked that high.

 

[DSGamer64]

My connection is 10Mb and I live in a suburban area, then again my parents are too cheap to upgrade

Either way, I am surprised Canada is that high considering a lot of the country doesn't have decent internet access, especially in the prairies where everything is so spread out.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Ouch. I'm outside of Mission, B.C., and we only get Shaw, and we don't get the best package either. I'm surprised Canada is as high as it is as well. Wasn't even expecting top 15 to be honest.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Lets talk about quality and speed?
UK woudnt even be in that list.

 

[naka69]

Haha I live in Vancouver Canada and I have 100mb down

 

[Rydian]

Man in the US in some places you can't even get broadband, let alone 12+ megs. If I'm in the city and getting 6 megabits I'm happy, compared to the 1.5 here.

 

[Berthenk]

Well, you can't be the best at everything, eh?
Still, I guess I can't whine with my 2.8 MB/s down...

 

[Mazor]

Breaking fucking news.

Everyone and their mother knows the US has shit internet coverage and speeds, it's been the case at least since after the 90's.

I'm kinda surprised Norway and Sweden are above us.

There is a simple explanation when it comes to household coverage.

It's very easy to reach a large percentage of households in these countries because a very large percentage of the population live in the same places. Sweden is the size of California, yet there are only around 9 million inhabitants of which a large majority all live in the south part of the country and almost everyone else in the few larger cities in the north. The case is similar for Norway (with ~5 million inhabitants), a very large percentage of the population lives in the same few areas (most of the rest of the country is covered with mountains).

Norway has shit speeds though.

 

[Shiro09]

Australia's 16th? And New Zealand is in front of us? whaaaaaat

 

[8BitWalugi]

Still better than AUS.

Well, maybe not mine, depending on area.

 

[Sir Spanky]

The Scandanavians have always loved their insanely fast internets

 

[Mazor]

The Scandanavians have always loved their insanely fast internets

Actually, in Scandinavia, only Sweden has had and has top speed internet (Finland also having decent internet, they're not part of Scandinavia contrary to popular belief though).

See http://netindex.com/ or any other source.