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Yesterday, George Bush's administration claimed it has largely succeeded in supplying affordable high-speed Internet access to all Americans. Another mission accomplished moment? Yep. The real picture isn't nearly so rosy.
First, the U.S. still ranks 15th for broadband connectivity, behind countries like France, Australia, the UK, and Canada, with only 22% of homes connected. Bush's numbers [pdf] are far higher (50% for cities, 38% for rural areas) because he feels a 200kbs/sec connection is "broadband." Those citizens connecting to the Internet using a service barely faster than dial-up probably disagree.
Second, competition among service providers is woefully low. Most Americans have only one or possibly two choices for broadband access. This means we pay an average of $150 more for the same connection than the French. Our connections are slower too, with our average speed only barely above average for connected countries.
Lastly, America's broadband providers seem intent to stymie progress, innovation, and net traffic in any way they can. As opposed to well connected and net-neutral countries like Japan, America allows ISPs to throttle certain kinds of traffic, charge or cut off users for using "excess" bandwidth, and close off their infrastructure to competing service providers.
It all adds up to a slow, expensive, and frustrating experience for American users.
In a country with no net neutrality, where I pay $60/month for sometimes slow and throttled Internet service, where friends in rural areas can't even get online at all, we're supposed to agree with the President and declare that our connectivity goals have been accomplished? Please.
America has long been a hotbed of Internet innovation, but lately traffic and business dollars are moving overseas. American citizens have used the Internet to diversify their media consumption, create new communities, and organize a myriad of political campaigns, yet many Americans still lack the connections to participate fully in the new online democracy. The Internet revolution - which started here - can be fully expressed here as well, but only when Internet connectivity is treated as a necessary service (like water or electricity) and not a luxury.
Until then, the mission is decidedly not accomplished.
(originally posted at The Seminal)
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