There was a recent study, which I believe was reported in the Murky-News, comparing US bandwidth/subscriber with other countries. It was one of those graphs looking like half an arch, and we were down in the middle. Tracked it down again, and here's the key graph:
The US bandwidth figure is 8,860 Mb/sec, which is what you get with the best cable broadband, and that's as good as it gets. Japan, OTOH, didn't try to make old copper limp along to fully amortize the investment, and invested in fiber optic lines to deliver an order of magnitude better service to the average subscriber.
It struck me the first time I saw the graph that the countries with higher bandwidth are all countries in which the telecom infrastructure is run either by the government or a government-sanctioned monopoly (aka a "PTT", post, telegraph, telephone): In Japan that's NTT, in Britain British Telecom, etc.
This isn't really all that controversial a conclusion, Tom. PTTs are in a position to look ahead and forecast needs, and to take into account public policy such as fostering innovation and telecommuting, that the US private companies are free to completely ignore. And they can draw upon goverment resources to invest in infrastructure [oh the horror!] and don't have to proceed incrementally and fully amortize investment in obsolete technologies before moving on to something better.
This isn't really controversial even in an American context: The Interstate Highway System and Rural Electrification are two examples that come to mind immediately of wise infrastructure investment that paid spectacular economic benefits for everybody. It looks like we're going to miss the boat this time, and that's a damn shame.
This isn't even controversial in Republican terms: George W. Bush smarmily promised an initiative to bring broadband into every home, though of course he never delivered on it.
Bandwidth/capita isn't the only measure of a successful telecom infrastructure that serves a society's needs. India's not on the map on a domestic per-capita basis, but because it has a lot of international bandwidth, its outsourcing companies are able to siphon away telecom-intensive jobs such as call centers, from places like the US with an antiquated telecom infrastructure.
Metrics like miles of paved roads, and electricity and telephone service have long been used as measures of a society's current and future economic potential. Adding network bandwidth is long overdue, and I think that when you look at the complete picture, you get some clues as to why the US has been falling behind in recent years.
And of course, this overlooks where pretty much everything having anything to do with internet access was invented and developed.
Well, that gives all of us a warm and fuzzy feeling, but it doesn't pay the bills. I'm sure all those other nations that are using our technology to kick our asses are extremely grateful, but their gratitude and $4 won't buy you a gallon of gas these days.
Generally they didn't steal our technology, which brings to mind Karl Marx's famous observation that capitalists will sell you the rope to hang them with. Guess Marx got it right, eh Tom?