DSL-based broadband service providers may have started to catch up with cable companies in pure subscriber count terms, but when it comes to speeds, U.S. DSL companies are lagging behind not only the cable companies, but their peers around the world.
Between the second and third quarters of this year, the average DSL connection speed in the U.S. (and Canada) increased a mere 0.17 percent, according to research firm Point Topic, bringing the average download speed to just 2.971 megabits per second.
In comparison, the speeds in South & East Asia went up 132 percent to 3.582 Mbps, while Asia Pacific saw speeds increase 38.79 percent to 14.989 Mbps. Speeds in Western Europe gained by 6.22 percent to 5.552 Mbps, and in Eastern Europe, speeds are up 6.59 percent to 2.443 Mbps. In Latin America, speeds rose 29.06 percent to 1.652 Mbps, while the Middle East & Africa saw speeds dip 0.71 percent, to 1.404 Mbps. The carriers that gave DSL speeds a nudge include Korea Telecom, NTT, China Telecom, Fast Web, Telecom Argentina, and Telefonica and its affiliates.
Verizon & AT&T is a monopolist in US. Being the only provider they are reluctant to upgrade the infra. The US consumer is not too demanding as well.
What does it matter when upload is still a measly 1 Mbps?
In Germany the incumbent Deutsche Telekom has still the majority of dsl customers and infrastructure. never the less they upgrade their net to vdsl, with up to 50 Mbit/s Download and up to 10 MBit/s Upload.
greets
There is something to the old saying that “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. Well, I started with a Wilcat BBS back in 1987 or 88 (it’s now owned by Santronics.com)having all the goodies to entertain callers on the phone line. My modem had a screaming speed of 20 something BPS. The problem was after all that planning and fun there was only a few BBS’s out there and no one had my phone number. The system was great and wonderful, but I was the only caller.
A couple of years later I switched over to a ADSL account and changed my BBS over to a real smartweblinks.com server. It has been up since 1992. ADSL seemed to work well, and I suddenly started betting callers comming to my webpages, it was expensive, but I made it.
Anyway, being stuck in DSL is like being stuck in the 60’s. My son came to visit recently showing me his new laptop. It’s a really nice Toshiba with a wireless modem in it. We commected it to my wireless router and he was completely overtaken by the speed. You see, where he live they only have telephone connections to a dialup internet connection.
Your blog shows that not many people actually get to go to some of those places where the newest and bestest internet systems have been intalled simply because the entire system is new. Americans, on the other hand are used to lousy DSL service because the telecommunications industry won’t fix it because they are makeing a ton of money telling everyone “it’s not broken”. Well, it is broken. I was in Jersey City on a business trip and noticed cellphone antennea’s hanging all over the place. That’s broken. The reason is infrastructure. In New York the building are wired with ancient wiring devices and methods which would cost zillions to replace. That’s why wireless is so important to our country. The act of not upgrading the American wireless communications infrastructure is like imposing a 55 mile per hour speed limit. Although not completely related to communications I would dearly love to read about the real alterior-motive behind the 55 mile per speed limits.
Splitting the telcoms, way back when, was part of a very long range plan. We can blame the paid lobbyists and politicians being stuck in the 60’s for that one.
Notice that AT&T is back in the drivers seat. That could have been part of the plan all along. My DSL service was faster and more reliable with SouthWestern Bell than it is now with AT&T. I’ve been degraded somehow.
The problem is that, even if you did connect up in Europe and try to Google some US sites, the speed limit is enforced when your signal crosses the Atlantic Ocean.
My website is still up and I am still waiting for that miracle.
See ya
In Germany even some cable providers have connection speeds up to 32 MBit/s by the time. What is it in other countries?
In Deutschland haben sogar einige Kabel Provider mittlerweile Download-Geschwindigkeiten von bis zu 32 MBits/s. Wie sieht dies in anderen Ländern aus?
“The act of not upgrading the American wireless communications infrastructure is like imposing a 55 mile per hour speed limit. Although not completely related to communications I would dearly love to read about the real alterior-motive behind the 55 mile per speed limits.”
TRULY LOVE IT
Since 3 years cable based broadband service providers grow up very very fast in germany. They get more and more customers from the “normal” dls base providers.
With the VDSL technology, there is of the Deutsche Telekom (T-Home) in Germany DSL with speeds of up to 50 MBit/s. So is also IPTV in addition to traditional telephony and Internet surfing possible.
i think mobile internet like 3g or UMTS (so called in germany) is much more in the focus right now. but more bandwith at home means more entertainment over kabel/internet. we will see what gets kicked more.
Now we have over 100 broadband service providers – that is to much. 🙂 It is just a chaos.
Yeah, but the diversity of the market is quite good for the customers. Pick up the cheapest one and safe ur bucks. So its very nice to have a lot of providers, isn´t it?
Regards
Simyo
In my opinion the diversity of technologies is qute good. LTE, Cable Internet, VDSL,… 🙂
Since October 2009 the german cable network “Kabel Deutschland” announces that they are planning to increase the maximal download rate up to 50 M/bits!
@Internet per Kabel:
I can just agree to this!
I do prefer Cable Internet! It’s awesome fast and cheap too!