The United States, the country that invented the Internet, is falling dangerously behind in offering high-speed, affordable broadband service to businesses and consumers, according to technology experts and an array of recent studies.
In terms of Internet speed and cost, “ours seems completely out of whack with what we see in the rest of the world,” said Susan Crawford, a law professor at Yeshiva University in Manhattan, a former Obama administration technology adviser and a leading critic of American broadband.
For example, average broadband service in the Latvian capital of Riga (population 700,000) is at least two and half times faster than in San Antonio, Texas (population 1.4 million), and at roughly a quarter the cost. But don't you worry, because good ol' American free market competition will fix everything!
