Internet Service in the Greatest Country on Earth (™)

According to a recent study by Ookla Speedtest, the U.S. ranks a shocking 31st in the world in terms of average download speeds. The leaders in the world are Hong Kong at 72.49 Mbps and Singapore on 58.84 Mbps. And America? Averaging speeds of 20.77 Mbps, it falls behind countries like Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Uruguay.

Its upload speeds are even worse. Globally, the U.S. ranks 42nd with an average upload speed of 6.31 Mbps, behind Lesotho, Belarus, Slovenia, and other countries you only hear mentioned on Jeopardy.

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The 1996 Telecommunications Act — which was meant to foster competition — allowed cable companies and telecoms companies to simply divide markets and merge their way to monopoly, allowing them to charge customers higher and higher prices without the kind of investment in internet infrastructure, especially in next-generation fiber optic connections, that is ongoing in other countries. Fiber optic connections offer a particularly compelling example. While expensive to build, they offer faster and smoother connections than traditional copper wire connections. But Verizon stopped building out fiber optic infrastructure in 2010 — citing high costs — just as other countries were getting to work.

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The idea of a regulated market being more conducive to competition may be alien to free market ideologues, but telecoms and internet is a real world example of deregulation leading to monopolization instead of competition in lots of markets.

  The Week

As Comcast, the largest U.S. cable company, seeks the federal government’s approval for a $45.2 billion deal to buy No. 2 Time Warner Cable (TWC), the company, and Cohen, are everywhere in Washington—pressing their case with members of Congress and their staffs by day and entertaining them by night. In 2013, Comcast spent $18.8 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, more than any company except defense contractor Northrop Grumman (NOC). The company gives millions of dollars to politicians of both parties through its political action committee. The Comcast Foundation donated $16.2 million to charities in 2012, often inviting politicians to attend events, where they can be seen and photographed supporting worthy causes. “They are ubiquitous,” says Gene Kimmelman, former chief counsel for competition policy at the Department of Justice. “They really have everything covered at the highest levels of skill and experience.”

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Some regulators and consumer advocates argue Comcast’s proposed union with Time Warner would create a cable behemoth, leaving customers with fewer choices and higher bills. “There’s a strong case to be made why this merger shouldn’t be approved,” says Michael Copps, a former Democratic member of the FCC and the only commissioner to oppose the Comcast-NBC deal. “It’s just so much power for one company to amass, and it’s not just cable,” says Copps, now an adviser to the consumer group Common Cause. “They’re a broadband company, they’re a broadcast company, they’re new media, they’re old media, they’re telecom, they’re everything.”

  Business Week

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.