The state of U.S. broadband competition
Major markets in the United States have few providers to choose from and there's little differentiation among them. Just check out the infographic below, and it becomes more evident.
In October, I worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalistDavid Cay Johnston to share the findings of his new expose, "The Fine Print: How Big companies Use 'Plain English' to Rob You Blind." Johnston was especially critical of the telecommunications industry, which he deemed uncompetitive. "A growing number of industries are monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies even as they claim to be in highly competitive markets. Cable, Internet and telephone provide a good example of this. In most places you have one phone company and one cable company offering similarly slow, by world standards, Internet speeds and very similar prices," he said.
This infographic visualizes what services people get for their money in major U.S. cities. You can decide what - if anything - is wrong for yourself. Note that it highlights the fastest Internet speeds in some of the metro areas, compared to the national average (which is 6.6. Mbps downstream).
This infographic comes courtesy ofForRent.com, an apartment locating Web service.
Disclosure: I have a client, xG Technology, that designs telecommunications radios for the wireless industry
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