

The Sad State of U.S. Broadband - edw519
http://www.businessweek.com/print/technology/content/may2008/tc20080522_340989.htm

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tx
Why so much whining about american broadband recently? I have "only" 6MBit
connection, but I almost never see these speeds: only a handful of top-dogs
like google/yahoo are capable of responding quickly. Flickr, PicasaWeb, GMail,
ESPN and BaseCamp are my bottlenecks - it's them who are slow, not my
connection. Even GoogleMaps got more sluggish recently, even without
StreetView turned on. Faster broadband won't help those laggy services.

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ckinnan
I've been waiting a month (!) to get Comcast cable broadband installed in an
urban area. (Fios isn't available) The problem is the state and local cable
franchise monopolies, which limit competition and choice. States that have
opened up competition, like Texas, are seeing prices drop. It's also the local
regulatory hurdles on rolling out new fiber...its hugely expensive to get the
permits.

