Over at The Week, John Aziz lays out an argument for why U.S. Internet speeds are 31st in the world for downloads and 42nd in the world for uploads. It’s an argument you’ve heard time and time again — lack of competition — but it tacks on some of interesting backstory for color.
The other argument you’ll hear fairly often: too much ground to cover. It’s hard to string fast broadband out to rural areas, and the U.S. has a lot of wide open spaces, right? That’s a problem that’s arguably easier to rectify over time as buildouts get cheaper and wireless networks get more robust, but an ongoing dearth of competition could keep speeds slow and prices high relative to the rest of the world.
Why is American internet so slow? [The Week]
More Must-Read Stories From TIME
- Inside Mississippi's Last Abortion Clinic—and the Biggest Fight for Abortion Rights in a Generation
- Do Current COVID-19 Tests Still Detect Omicron?
- The First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Could Be a Lifeline for Struggling New England Cities
- Welcome to TV's Era of Peak Redundancy
- The Key Role a Local Newspaper Played in the Trial Over Ahmaud Arbery's Murder
- TIME's Top 100 Photos of 2021
- 2021: The Year the Grift Kept Giving
Read More From TIME
