We’ve moved beyond dial-up, but compared to the rest of the world, America’s internet connection is lagging behind. According to a study by The Communications Workers of America (CWA), our broadband speeds are significantly slower than those in other developed countries. How slow? Compare Japan’s average download speed of 61 megabits per second to America’s 2 megabits per second. Which would you rather have? We’re even beat out by Canada. The Canucks clock in at 7 megabits per second, more than 3 times as fast as America. What’s worse, we pay about 40 cents more per 100 kilobits of bandwidth than other developed countries. So we get significantly slower service, but pay more for it.

What can you do about the bum deal American Internet users have been handed? It’s probably not likely you’ll want to pick up and move to Japan just for the great Internet access. One way we can all help ourselves is for website owners to optimize their pages for ultimate speed and usability. If you can improve the quality and speed of your site, it will be easier for everyone to access. If we’ve got to pay more and wait longer to see your site, at least make sure it’s high quality work.

Another way to fight back against low quality, high price internet is to not purchase it at all. That’s right. Give up on having an Internet connection at home. Wi-fi is a growing phenomenon that many businesses and even municipalities are starting to embrace. Check out websites that can locate wi-fi hotspots for you, then patronize them. Even if you don’t want to buy a cup of coffee for your Internet connection, there are still options. Check out your local library for wi-fi and encourage your city to adopt a free municipal network. Of course, if all else fails, you can always just bum off of your neighbor’s unsecured connection. Even if it is overpriced and slow. [Editor's note: bumming Wi-Fi from your neighbor is illegal in many places.]