Why does the USA have such slow Dl speeds?

[Achilleslastand]

The USA is 26th in the world?
Net Index by Ookla - All Countries


1...Luxembourg120.74 Mbps
2...Hong Kong59.21 Mbps
3...Taiwan38.91 Mbps
4...South Korea38.41 Mbps
5...Lithuania37.85 Mbps
6...Japan37.61 Mbps
7...Netherlands36.68 Mbps
8...Andorra35.30 Mbps
9...Macau33.70 Mbps
10...Singapore33.14 Mbps
Net Index by Ookla

[Snowman]

A large part of why our speed stalling is lack of competition since, most places in the country there is local monopolies on cable and the old telephone lines and no fiber channel option, cable already has the technology out to do a theoretical max of 320 Mbps (split between up and down) to a user but unless there is a cheap fiber option in the area why would they need to offer that at a price more people would use, when in most instances the best alternative is DSL which was already maxed out in speed years ago. The fact we even had this level of competition was an accident and ironic side effect of cable having been forced to carry public access television. Though with some slight tweaks to the system building on the modem technology they already have developed, even the oldest cable lines in the ground should be capable of at least 4 Gbps (split between up and down), the next generation of the protocol cable modems use sounds like it is changing a few things on how data/video is transmitted and is aiming for being capable of 10 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up.

Usually the highest speeds come from countries that have really dense cities where deployment of multiple lines to large buildings is more feasible and little countryside or requirements that the main carrier offer competitive rates for usage of the last mile connection.

[bchris02]

Low density cities would be my best guess. It also may be a demand issue. I am not sure what the Internet usage habits are in those counties with better connections, but here the majority use relatively little bandwidth. In America, we are getting to the point even with the download speeds we have, they are more than most people use. The PC and the laptop are both going away and being replaced by iPhones and iPads. You don't really need a 30Mbps download connection to browse the web on your phone. Business users of course get the fast 100Mbps fiber connections and power home users who do a lot of downloading or streaming can pay Cox a little extra for a better connection.

[Snowman]

In America, we are getting to the point even with the download speeds we have, they are more than most people use. The PC and the laptop are both going away and being replaced by iPhones and iPads. You don't really need a 30Mbps download connection to browse the web on your phone. Business users of course get the fast 100Mbps fiber connections and power home users (who still use PCs) can afford to pay Cox a little extra for a better connection.

Need and would be used if available are a little different, most video on the internet is still not downloaded at full HD resolution and they already have quad HD resolution for a small number of TVs manufactured.

Symmetric connections and static IP address being a more standard option would probably be a bigger shift as it would allow more people to run sites off there home network at little extra cost, plus allow for various services that allow devices to easily retrieve data from your home pc, remote access to it or other machines like DVRs.

[Zuplar]

I'd just like to have more options and a chance to have greater than 3mb without paying an arm and leg.

[kelroy55]

I had to wait a month for cable internet when I moved down to south Fort Worth. My chouces were DSL or wait for Charter to run a line for a cabel modem. The line ended three houses down and they were nice enough to run one to my house.

[SSEiYah]

The ROI for most telecom companies is not worth it to upgrade stuff.

Internet in the USA are not regulated by the government unlike many other countries.

[Servicetech571]

The ROI for most telecom companies is not worth it to upgrade stuff.

Internet in the USA are not regulated by the government unlike many other countries.

Government regulation typically makes things WORSE, not better. Few people pay for the fastest internet offered by thier ISP.

[Plutonic Panda]

Government regulation typically makes things WORSE, not better. Few people pay for the fastest internet offered by thier ISP.

Somehow, I thought that was what SSEiYah was implying when he stated that, that is why I liked his comment.