Why so much whining about american broadband recently? I have "only" 6MBit connection, but I almost never see these speeds: only a handful of top-dogs like google/yahoo are capable of responding quickly. Flickr, PicasaWeb, GMail, ESPN and BaseCamp are my bottlenecks - it's them who are slow, not my connection. Even GoogleMaps got more sluggish recently, even without StreetView turned on. Faster broadband won't help those laggy services.

I've been waiting a month (!) to get Comcast cable broadband installed in an urban area. (Fios isn't available) The problem is the state and local cable franchise monopolies, which limit competition and choice. States that have opened up competition, like Texas, are seeing prices drop. It's also the local regulatory hurdles on rolling out new fiber...its hugely expensive to get the permits.