Telecom News: Speed Matters Report: U.S. Still Lags Behind

CWA released its second annual survey of Internet connection speeds in the United States and the results show that the U.S. continues to lag behind other advanced nations.

The national report is based on data from nearly 230,000 Internet users who took the online Speed Matters speed test at www.speedmatters.org. Speed Matters is a Strategic Industries Fund project and has been very

successful in spotlighting the dismal situation in the United States, gaining the attention of key regulators and pushing forward an initiative in Congress as the first step toward a national broadband policy.

At the present rate it will take the United States more than one hundred years to catch up with current Internet speeds in Japan, which now are 30 times faster than those in the United States, the report found.

"This isn't about how fast someone can download a full-length movie. Speed matters to our economy and our ability to remain competitive in a global marketplace," said CWA President, Larry Cohen.

The United States "is the only industrialized nation without a national policy to promote universal, high-speed Internet access — and it shows," Cohen said. True high speed is critical for a growing number of applications — in telemedicine, education, public safety, small business and many more, he said. Internet speed "determines whether we'll have the 21st century networks needed to create the jobs of the future, develop our economy and give our children access to unlimited information."

The speed test takers used DSL, cable modem or fiber to connect to the Internet; very few people with dial-up connections took the test because it would take them too long. About 15 percent of U.S. Internet users have a dial-up connection, making the overall U.S. standing even more dismal than the report numbers indicate.

In terms of individual state results, Rhode Island and Delaware were the fastest, coming in with 6.8 and 6.7 megabits per second, respectively, and Alaska was the slowest, at just 0.8 megabits per second.

This year's results show that the median real-time download speed in the U.S. is 2.3 megabits per second (mbps), far slower than Japan, which is 30 times faster; South Korea, 25 times faster; France, eight times faster; and Canada, nearly three times faster.

The test results demonstrate the critical need for the Senate to pass S. 1492, the Broadband Data Improvement Act, to move the U.S. toward a national broadband policy. Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a similar measure, the Broadband Census of America Act, to support the collection of data about broadband deployment.

The FCC also has taken notice of CWA's Speed Matters efforts and believes that the test findings can be a model for future broadband mapping.

The Speed Matters program calls for: 

• A national broadband policy with timetable for buildout of high speed services. 
  
• Public-private partnerships, like those in Ohio and Kentucky, that bring together state and local governments, telecommunications companies, schools and libraries, and unions to create state broadband maps and technology plans to stimulate demand for and adoption of high-speed broadband access; 
  
• Reform of the Universal Service Fund (which worked to put a phone in every home in rural and lower-income communities) to support build-out of broadband infrastructure to underserved communities; and 
  
• Tax and loan incentives.