Americans are falling way behind the rest of the developed world in internet connectivity
By louisehartmann
The nation of South Korea is expected to have internet speeds 200-times what we have here in the United States by the end of the year. And here’s the kicker: They’ll pay only $27 a month for it. According to a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – the United States is falling way behind other developed nations when it comes to internet speeds and connectivity. Currently, more than 94% of South Koreans have access to high speed internet. In that United States, only 70% of us do – with roughly 100 million Americans unable to access high-speed internet.
So what’s the secret in South Korea? Government regulation that prevents oligopolies from rising up in the internet market and charging whatever they want. It’s time we start enforcing the Sherman Anti-trust Act in America again – break up the giant internet cartel – and bring more competition into the market to lower prices. Internet is the basis of the new economy – and thus it should be fundamental right for all Americans to have access to it.
Comments
#2
We should amend the Constitution to treat every part of the District of Columbia as part of the state that ceded it. Currently that would all be Maryland, so the residents of DC would be districted for approximately 1 House seat, and would participate in voting for MD's senators. If the rest of the 10-mile square were ceded by Virginia (again), that area would vote and be districted as part of VA. These areas would also vote for President as parts of those states.
#3
According to the netindex, the top 10 cities in the world does not include the US for internet average bandwidth over the past 6 months. In fact, the US is 33rd from the top. The allcountries graph shows a relatively constant (only a slight increase) bandwidth at 14.90 Mbps for the US. Hong Kong tops the list at 42.08 (but has more than doubled their bandwidth in the last 6 months)...followed by Lithuania at 33.50 Mbps then South Korea (33.30 Mbps) ..which has been fairly strong over the past 6 months with some slight variations.
Los Angeles is 10.5 Mbps. We are not the worst, but we really should be first and not stuck near the middle. Houston is 11.16 Mbps. Chicago is 12.19 Mbps
#4
Funny with all that great stuff in South Korea people still would rather live here. What am I missing.
#5
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No, my Internet connection is through AT&T. Out Internet System is not the only part clinging to the 20th Century, take a look at our Train Rail System and tell me that there is something wrong. We are captives of the oligopolies. I agree, it's time that we start enforcong the Serman Anti-Trust Act in America again.
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#6
I live in Hillsboro OR, home of Intel in the NW (and many other hi-tech industries). We have fibre-optic throughout most of the city. I get 25 mb up and down but it's not cheap, certainly a lot more than Korean prices! I remember reading serveral years ago that Korea and Japan had a median download speed of 40-50 mb (now probably higher). Bob Metcalfe, who invented Ethernet, and a rather right-wing kind of guy once wrote (about 10 years ago) that there's only one thing worse than a govt. monopoly and that's an unregulated private monopoly, referring in his editorial in InfoWorld to the monopoly the Telcos still have on local access. He stated at that time that most of all the fibre installed is still 'dark' (I forget the figure but it was more than 2/3). LIke almost anything else in this "great" country we lag far behind the rest of the world.
#7
I live in the UK and I'm about to sign up for internet at £19.99 ($31.75) per month. This is not an introductory offer.
Speed:
72 Mbps download (guaranteed - not 'up to')
20 Mbps upload
Limit of 250gb per month (no limit from midnight to 8.0am)
At the moment I'm getting 9mbps (of an 'up to' 24 Mbps) down and 1.8 mbps up for £20.46 ($32.50) per month with an unlimited down/upload allowance.
I lived in the USA from 2005 to 2007 (got 1.5 Mbps for about $60 per month in those days) and have relatives in Chicago - looks as if Comcast is 3 to 4 times more expensive
#8
How exactly did Bill Clinton get a balanced budget passed through Congress if no Republicans voted for it??? SIMPLE When the Democrats were in control of Congress during the first two years of Clinton's administration, they raised taxes (the same taxes that Bush 2 later cut and gave us back the deficit along with the wars and new Republican Great Depression). It took Clinton a lot of arm twisting to raise those taxes but Dems voted for it and because they voted for it they set the future of balanced budgets provided Clinton could keep Republicans from screwing it up again which he did. Many dems lost their seats because of the vote to raise taxes and we got a Republican Majority in congress for the first time in 40 years headed by Newt Tiffany's Gingrich. The Clintonian economy was for all practical purposes set in motion by the democratic majority in the first two years of Clinton's administration. So to the BushWellian destruction of our economy was set in motion by years of god awful anti-regulatory policies and unpaid for tax cuts by Bush 2. You can look at the historical stats. The middle class, the poor, and the overall American economy always do better under democrats than republicans for one simple reason. Democrats care about growing opportunity for everyone. Republicans only care about themselves and their friends and as a consequence they are evil. The republican attitude really is "I got mine. You're on your own. F.U." That is why they are evil. Mitt Romney made his money destroying American jobs, sending them overseas for what are essentially slave wages. I say go back and tax the Rich at Republican Eisenhower levels of 91% because they should be forced to reinvest in America in order to keep all that money. Economic Patriotism should be mandatory.
#9
You obviously haven't been to South Korea lately.
#10
It's not about where you would want to live. Why do people so often jump to that whenever there's discussion of something being better elsewhere in the world? We're soooooo sensitive and thin skinned as Americans. Sooooooo sure everyone on Earth wants to live here. And we can't like anything about Europe or Japan, or Australia, or South Korea or anywhere without hearing "Why don't you move there!"
#11
I'd be ecstatic with 9Mbps down! I pay something like $39 for an up to 6Mbps down and I only get only about 5.13Mbps down at quiet times (after about 1:00am) and until about 4:00pm and then it starts to bottleneck as everyone is getting home from work or school. 72Mbps down? Guaranteed? Most guarantees take advantage of the fact that most people won't bother to hold them to the guarantees if they are getting any where near what was promised. Marketing! Can't live with them...and you don't want to. Pests! I wonder how much it would cost for a 72Mbps?
#12
Very inspirational! Right on!
#13
Right here? You mean Canada...that's where you are from isn't it...Alberta? Canada is quite beautiful and wouldn't mind living there myself. At least I could take advantage of the universal health care system you have in Alberta.
I have been to South Korea a number of times and I can understand why S.Koreans might want to move to Canada...or even the US...we don't have the traffic congestion or pollution that they have in South Korea....because we have laws to regulate industry....yay, Democrats! Canada is so wide open and sparsely populated that there is lots of elbow room and room to breathe. The US is getting worse...but only because the Republican government lets the private sector get away with massive pollution.
Also, the S. Koreans live under the constant threat of an attack from N. Korea. It was really freaky when I was about to leave the Hyundai compound, riding in the car...just before getting to the gate....all hell broke loose....sirens wailing...we had to pull over and stop...then some guy starts yelling instructions, in Korean of course (which I couldn't understand), over a loud speaker (they were all over the compound), and I thought we were being attacked. I learned later that it was just a nationwide drill in case they were ever attacked by the north. Very nerve rattling to experience that...and they have monthly drills.
Another thing I experienced over there was a massive demonstration by students against the hard right wing government. I got caught in the middle of it in Seoul one day as I was trying to find Itaewon Street (the often sought out refuge for Americans who want to do shopping but can't speak Korean...that one shopping area...everyone speaks English).
I did, however, get to see the Pope fly by in his PopeMobile on one trip...whoopie, huh?
#14
On another trip to S.Korea..I was told that a whole shopping Mall collapsed killing some wives of some very important people..along with a lot of other shoppers...one, a top executive of Hyundai. It was later learned that the newly built Mall was built by contractors that were cutting corners in order to make more profit. The building codes were not very much enforced.
Another time, I was waiting in traffic and I saw this guy on a motor bike zoom past on the narrow edge of the road. Just a few cars in front of us was an intersection and I saw the motor bike guy fly up into the air twirling like a rag doll and then came down to the pavement on his head. That was one dead dude!
I had learned from Korean co-workers that they had just gotten back from holiday at some famous vacation spot quite a few miles to the south and his family spent the entire day stuck in bumper to bumper traffic all the way.
#15
Tom,
OK, they have fast internet and a lot of the people have access..How big is S. Korea? How big is the USA? How many citizens in S. Korea? How many in USA? Its an issue of scale.....should we borrow more from Social Security and the rest of the world? We need to reduce our debt. Stop the spending and protect the future generations from our bad choices. I am a baby boomer....I take responsibility for my generation - Left and Right - We were/are greedy, my parents, (yours too perhaps), left me a better country and we chose to screw it up. We voted in extreme politicians left and right and now it is up to our children and their children to fix our mess....It is going to take many generations to get America back to her glory days...we are not going to this without politicians that are willing to STOP pandering to the base and make tough decisions. I agree, move to amend, but we are so far down the road of chaos, that I fear my grandchildren will be screwed. Who cares about ISP speed.....back to basics. You have it right, tag I'm it, but when I see what political choices I have, it makes me sick.
Obama & DNC/Romney & GOP = "Opposames" We need a third centrist party. FIscal Conservative/Social Moderates
I pray I dont live to see the mess I fear is coming. I do what I can....but it is depressing to read all the retoric on the extremes....balance please!
#16
And the very first thing we need to chop is the Pentagon...unnecessary and illegal foreign wars....and Black Budgets. Let's turn the Pentagon into a shelter for the homeless...or a pig sty...whatever! Then the second thing we need to do is to tax the heck out of the wealthy who have created this whole mess to begin with in getting huge tax breaks, corporate welfare, and emasculating or abolishing those laws that keep rapacious capitalist pigs in check. Tax those suckers like during the Eisenhower years. Make them pay back all they took and leave Social Security and Medicare alone. And then there needs to be a massive debt forgiveness program to wipe out all of those huge debt numbers...the trillions in derivatives.
We spent our working lives paying into the system with not only our taxes but into FICA and other programs. We would have been very well off had it not been for massive idiotic military spending and massive tax breaks for the uber rich. Now we need to reverse that. Republicans are mostly culpable for driving us into a hole...and they all did it on purpose..they had an agenda to destroy all social programs including Social Security and Medicare. Many Democrats are only culpable for not having the balls to stand up to the Republicans and their Military Industrial Corporate Wall Street Bankster Oil complex. And some American people are culpable for voting against their best financial interest by voting Republican or for not holding the Democrat's feet to the fire to fight for them.
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How exactly did Bill Clinton get a balanced budget passed through Congress if no Republicans voted for it? The Republicans controlled the House for the last 6 years of his presidency.