Broadband access in the United States is even worse than you think.

My DSL is only 610K download speed (610k based on test below, basically a 512K connection) on what should be a 5MB (5120K) connection. It is unfortunate, but there is nothing that I can really do about it. Except switch to dial-up; but that would leave me with a connection speed of 56K. I have had three different internet providers since moving into my house, and all of them use the same telephone lines, so same coverage. Each one I call tells me that my house is located at the end of the line which is why I have such sluggish service. Most of these services advertise themselves as up to 5MB (nearly 10 times faster than what I have).

You can check out your own DSL speed online. Check it against what you are supposedly paying for: http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

Hopefully investments like Google’s fiber-optic plan to add 1GB (10240K) connections to 50,000-500,000 households (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html) help meet the National Broadband Plan goals:

“NATIONAL BROADBAND GOALS (http://www.broadband.gov/)

• Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
• Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
• Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
• Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
• Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a nationwide public safety wireless network.
• Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.”