Why is broadband (so much) more expensive in the US?

[Bill USA]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24528383

Home broadband in the US costs far more than elsewhere. At high speeds, it costs nearly three times as much as in the UK and France, and more than five times as much as in South Korea. Why?

Men's haircuts, loaves of bread... it is surprising how much more expensive some things are in the US than the UK. Now home broadband can be added to that list.

The price of basic broadband, TV and phone packages - or bundles as they are known - is much higher in American cities than elsewhere, suggests the New America Foundation think tank, which compared hundreds of available packages worldwide.

Looking at some of the cheaper ones available in certain cities, at lower to mid download speeds, San Francisco ($99/£61), New York ($70) and Washington DC ($68) dwarf London ($38), Paris ($35) and Seoul ($15).

Cost of broadband around the world:


(more)

[longship]

1. There is zero broadband where I live.

No cable TV either.

I have 2-3 bars on 4G on my iPhone with a 3GB monthly limit. I am getting an iPad Air tomorrow, but with a 5GB monthly limit. No Netflix for me. No YouTube either.

What happened to Obama's national broadband initiative? Wait... I already know. The 2010 election happened.

Meanwhile, us rural folks remain in the 20th Century.

[yurbud]

2. we give them a monopoly to wire our homes and they use it to screw us