We're Number Fifteen! We're Number Fifteen!

Consider this: Slovakia is ahead of the United States. South Korea is also ahead of the United States. Oh don't worry, we still have the bigger military and more cup holders in our cars, but America lags behind these two countries - and 13 others - in terms of Internet speed. Currently, the average download speeds of the Internet within the United States range between 3.9Mbps (Megabits per second) and 5.1Mbps, whereas South Korea leads with average download speeds ranging from 14.6Mbps to 20.4Mbps. That places the United States in 15th place, although even those numbers vary - some say it's as high as 28th. Either way, we're nowhere near the top ten, which where we were (at 10th place) six years ago when President Bush declared that "Tenth is ten spots too low".

Some say that there are reasons for the discrepancy - South Korea is about the size of Indiana and has a greater population density. But Russia is nearly twice as large as the US and has less of a population density and they have speeds faster than America.

The most frustrating part? Americans are paying more for less. In fact, right now, many in South Korea can subscribe to a 100Mbps internet connection for a more expensive $50 a month fee (most average fees are around $20). That's right - 100Mbps - 20 times faster than the speeds available here in America. By 2012, Koreans will receive 1Gbps broadband connections, a full 100x faster than what we currently have.

This is interesting considering that the FCC announced yesterday its 100 Squared Initiative - 100Mbps for 100 million households...by 2020. Get that? Ten years from now, the country that invented the Internet will be where other countries are today.

You may be saying to yourself, who cares? I can watch Hulu just fine. And you're right- most broadband in America today can easily view streaming videos. But, considering that the computer, telephone, and TV are all merging, the current broadband America has won't be able to compete with the rest of the world, who are able to upload large files within minutes versus hours.

So, just how did America get stuck in the slow lane on the Information Superhighway? I'll dive into that tomorrow.