At one side, U.S. is seen as the biggest consumer market in the world and if any major company makes it big in U.S., the replication of its success becomes much easier for that company in other countries.

Reason ? Because a large majority of U.S. population is financially stronger and carries all sorts of resources, compared to other countries. Still, one area where U.S. is completely blown away by smaller countries like Japan and Korea is Average broadband speed.

According to several market studies[Infographic here], U.S. falls way short of other countries in the Average broadband speeds, especially when U.S. consumers are one of the highest(or the highest) payers per megabytes of bandwidth usage across the globe.

So why U.S. consumers are paying so much to broadband service providers who don’t even provide fast and efficient broadband compared to ISPs providing services in other countries ?

It’s the Lack of Options !

When one looks at the current scenario of broadband services across U.S., the market appears to be controlled by a handful of large scale telecom/cable companies, which provide broadband services to U.S. consumers across the country. Those handful of companies have no competition to bother about, which eventually results in over-priced internet plans.

On the other side, consumers find themselves in a helpless position as they are hardly left with any choices to make. Whether it be a sub-urban city or a remote area, probable chances are that there’s just one or two telecom/cable ISPs available in any particular area, leaving least hopes for consumers.

Now fast broadband internet connectivity is slowly becoming a necessity rather than a luxury to most of the U.S. population and this doesn’t really allow anyone to avoid taking up a broadband connection, just because the plans are over-priced.

The solution to this entire menace of non-competitive broadband industry across U.S. has to come from the government’s end. There needs to be better regulation of broadband services industry and public interest should be secured before letting corporates impose their strategic plans over the consumer’s heads.

If possible, the government could establish a Public option for consumers, which would help every U.S. citizen utilize basic broadband service at much affordable price and let advanced users opt for higher level broadband options provided by the ISPs.

Also let us know what you think could be the possible solution for this problem…