Leaders No More

Yes, we did invent the Internet. No, we are no longer leaders when it comes to capabilities and cost of the Internet we use every day. The OECD has a number of spreadsheets documenting the current status. In terms of speed, 14 countries have faster download capabilities than we do. In terms of price we get a lot less for our money than many of our Western allies; in Canada, in Denmark they get twice our speed and pay less for it.

In the past three years things have not improved for us. The FCC has announced a National Broadband Plan to change things, but it doesn't look very promising, largely because it does nothing to promote greater competition.