Failing Fiber One

In the popular New York Times section, Personal Tech, writer Kate Murphy bemoans the lack of fast fiber connections across the United States. While pointing out places around the developed (and even less developed) world with abundant very high-sped fiber, Murphy notes that in the U.S. “...only 7.7 percent of broadband subscribers have optical fiber connections, the fastest and highest quality available.”

In fact, The U.S. still languishes in 14th place following Sweden, Japan, South Korea, Romania and Macau in fiber access.

Observing that optical fiber allows connections speed 100 times greater than is usually offered in the U.S., Murphy cites a number of people who moved, sometimes across the country, to find high-speed, affordable fiber – usually for their businesses.

But the article, For the Tech-Savvy With a Need for Speed, a Limited Choice of Towns With Fiber, also cites the situation for ordinary consumers. She quotes Susan Crawford, tech guru and visiting professor at Harvard Law School, who recently returned to New York after an extended stay in Stockholm.

“In New York, I pay four times as much as someone in Stockholm would pay for a connection that is 17 times as slow on the download and 167 times as slow on upload,” said Crawford. “Most of us are paying enormous rents for second-class service.”

For the Tech-Savvy With a Need for Speed, a Limited Choice of Towns With Fiber (NY Times, Apr. 2, 2014)

OECD Broadband Portal (OECD, Jan. 9, 2014)