Verizon does offer up to 150Mbit/35Mbit for their business packages. They probably don't see a market for it on the residential side. CableVision, Comcast, TWC, etc do offer 100Mbit+ connections for residential use in some limited markets. From what I've head they are not big sellers. (less than 1% of customers upgrade) That has probably slowed down wider deployment.
Is this so different from 10 years ago, when no one realized that they wanted high-definition TV? I can't imagine that the demand for HD television was very high then either. Once it was available, manufacturers began making all of their equipment HD capable.
The fundamental cause of poor broadband network performance in this country is actually not a lack of demand, it's a lack of competition among ISP's -- otherwise, these speeds would come to market naturally.
Over here in Helsinki, Finland there's a cable operator that offers connections that go up to 200/10Mbit (54,90€/month) and one of the biggest ISPs is putting together a 1000Mbit residential connection trial (they already offer 100/10Mbit fibre connections).
I think the demand is there if the pricing is decent.
To be honest, I have their business service at home to avoid trouble when I'm running VPN servers, etc. and the occasional Web service from home -- not to mention the usage cap issue.
And it's nice to know that they're up to 35 mbits upload (much faster than what I have), but their hardware is capable of much more (assuming it's on par with Google Fiber's).
Dunno about others, but the reason I'm not yet on Cablevision's 101/15Mbps plan is that they're charging a non refundable $300 fee to get you hooked up. I'm a software developer that works from home. If I won't do it, what are the chances your average Joe would?
