Bandwidth Envy, the State o...

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As reported by Foxnews.com, a Swedish woman, age 75, has the world's fastest broadband internet connection. In less than 2 seconds Sigbritt Lothberg can download a full-length movie. How does she do it? She's tapped into a 40 gigabit-per-second connection in Karlstad, Sweden. Seriously! Me and my puny 5 Mbps connection sit in awe and envy. Sure, I can get upwards of 10 Mbps if I want to pay for it. What's even more disturbing is that she's not utilizing the connection, only using it to view online newspapers. Sad, very sad.

"The speed is reached using a new modulation technique that allows the sending of data between two routers placed up to 1,240 miles apart, without any transponders in between." This does raise a question. What's the deal with American ISPs? Broadband coverage throughout America still isn't what it should be and speeds for the most part are no where near what's available throughout Europe and parts of Asia. According to a CWA survey, and as reported by Ars Technica, the average broadband speed is a mere 1.9 Mbps. Consider this, it's 61 Mbps in Japan, 45 Mbps in South Korea, 18 Mbps in Sweden, and 17 Mpbs in France.

It's no secret, I'm not an advocate of big government and government regulation, but when it comes to R&D and advances in technology, I'm typically all for it. As an example, there was legislation introduced this year titled the Broadband Census of America Act. Here's what the bill would do:

1. Define "high-speed" Internet access as 2 megabits per second for downloading and 1 megabit per second for uploading. Currently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines high-speed as 200 kilobits per second.


2. Discontinue the FCC practice of claiming an entire US zip code has broadband access if just one resident in that zip code has access.


3. Require the FCC to compare broadband deployment with that of other nations.


4. Requite the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to provide a comprehensive nationwide inventory of existing broadband service and infrastructure.


5. Allow the NTIA to make grants to states and local governments to assist the NTIA in collecting the data needed for the broadband availability map.


6. Direct the FCC to conduct surveys on the prices, advertised and actual speeds, and availability of broadband services.


7. Authorize twelve million dollars per year in fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010 to carry out the provisions of this legislation. No less than eight million dollars per year would be reserved for the grants to state and local governments.

This sounds like a great start, but I'd still like to see more. What about the price gouging that American ISPs are inflicting on Americans every year for what they like to tag as "broadband"? We pay more for slower speeds than many other countries. How can America compete in the global economy and in R&D if our networks and infrastructure simply aren't up to snuff?

Larry Cohen, CWA President, has it right:

"Speed Matters on the Internet. It determines what is possible; whether we will have the 21st century networks we need to grow jobs and our economy, and whether we will be able to support innovations in telemedicine, education, public safety, and public services to improve our lives and communities. High speed Internet could even help address the global warming crisis by allowing people to get things done without getting into their car."

With all this in mind we're approaching an election year with many items on the agenda to focus our attention on; a war on terror/Iraq war (arguably the same thing), Iran's nuclear program, North Korea's nuclear program, immigration, health care, social security reform, foreign oil dependency, budget deficits, trade gaps, and so on. All of those things listed are extremely important issues that we must face as a nation. However, we must not lose site of what was once a nation capable of great innovation such as the Industrial Revolution. Congress and our next presidential candidate must be one that can help re-invigorate old school American Research & Development. We need to put ourselves back on the map of innovation. This new innovation will help foster solutions to many of the other problems that I previously mentioned.