Comments on: Broadband: Damned Lies Edition

By: Telco Lobby Loses its Best Stats as the U.S. Falls in Broadband Ranking

Telco Lobby Loses its Best Stats as the U.S. Falls in Broadband Ranking — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:17:56 +0000

[...] when the survey was released in 2008, but Sweden was never far behind. Ironically, the survey was used last year by the telecommunications industry to say that the U.S. wasn’t so pitiful when it came to broadband, despite the slow average [...]

By: US-Broadband-falling-behind orthodoxy challenged again! America #1 in new Connectivity Scorecard « Net Competition Blog

Mon, 11 May 2009 17:53:48 +0000

[...] Of course, GigaOm responded angrily with a “Broadband Damned Lies Edition” post. [...]

By: Broadband Policy Plans Kicked Off in D.C.

Broadband Policy Plans Kicked Off in D.C. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:22:52 +0000

[...] the U.S. has slower broadband speeds than countries such as Japan and Korea. I have disagreed with him in the past, but he accurately lays out how the U.S.’s low population density plays a huge role in [...]

By: Broadband Bytes: February 21-27, 2009 » Free UTOPIA!

Broadband Bytes: February 21-27, 2009 » Free UTOPIA! — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:22:48 +0000

[...] #1 in broadband? Not exactly. Broadband availability and speeds still suck, but Americans are pretty darn good at squeezing productivity out of IT assets including broadband. [...]

By: Study Says US #1 in Broadband Sparks Debate

Study Says US #1 in Broadband Sparks Debate — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:06:03 +0000

[...] Hard workers and productivity do not mean that we have a system that is ready for the future. Stacey Higginbotham points to a future network glut as online services continue to be introduced. If we are this [...]

By: NextGenWeb: New. Comprehensive. Innovative. » A New Way to Look at U.S. Broadband – As #1

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:38:48 +0000

[...] conclusion that the U.S. is #1. However, Stacey Higginbotham, blogging for GigaOm, makes a great point that I want to highlight. And that point is that we need to look ahead and not get complacent in [...]

By: Ben Roome

Ben Roome — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:52:16 +0000

Interesting at the debate this has stirred. In fact, if you look at the individual scorecard components for the US: http://www.connectivityscorecard.org/countries/united_states_of_america you can see it significantly lags the best performing country in consumer infrastructure. This is the weakest component for the US overall – and this is, of course, the experience of broadband that most people in the US have.

It is only when combined with the other components, namely: government usage and skills; government infrastructure; business usage and skills; business infrastructure; and consumer usage and skills, that the US emerges as the “No. 1.”

Another more focused broadband study is out soon and the US is compared to 14 European countries in that, looking at the economic impact broadband has. I’ll be blogging about this at http://blogs.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/news.

By: Saul Hansell

Saul Hansell — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:32:15 +0000

Stacey-

Glad you read Bits. It’s a fair comment, I suppose, that the study i quote was conducted last year too, and for that mater was released in January. But it was news to me, and it didn’t get that much press, so it seemed interesting to blog. It certainly presented an alternative view to the one quotes all the time.

I just reread my post, and I don’t see anything even close to a “triumphant call to inaction on the broadband front.”

Cheers
Saul

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:21:26 +0000

well, since you proved me completely wrong, i’m gonna change my argument on you. i don’t think the government can help with broadband. i think we just have to wait for the telcos and cablecos, or some new alternative, to do it, because the government has proved itself pretty futile with this type of thing. the Universal Service Fund, for example, is a joke

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:18:47 +0000

Coleman, not sure what article you are quoting, but you won’t find us arguing over much of it. We have issued several calls to action, from better information for broadband subscribers about network management and actual speeds http://gigaom.com/2008/09/22/help-us-create-a-broadband-bill-of-rights/ to calls for the FCC to encourage more fiber deployments http://gigaom.com/2009/01/13/what-the-new-fcc-chair-must-do/.

By: Coleman

Coleman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:20:16 +0000

here is a comment from the article that is constructive criticism. it’s a call to action instead of a call to gripe.

“When we should be enjoying multiple Gigabit upload and download speeds, a free, unfettered neutral internet where speed upgrades happen every single day, instead of every 5 years under phone and cable monopolies, and where there’s a new IPO every day for yet another exciting new internet technology, I say that if somehow we are #1 at all, then we are still woefully inadequate.

We shouldn’t sit on our laurels. We need to seriously upgrade if we are going to get to a point where any person could make a video and without the help of any youtubes or anything like that, broadcast it to the entire world. It needs to be possible for everybody and anybody to be able to not only see, but share at super high speeds. we aren’t there yet. not even close.

We have some dangers ahead that we must face down. for one thing there are those who believe ISPs should be cops. we can’t be China, here, where thought police flourish. Make sure we have a free, open, fast, constantly improving, uncensored internet. Our freedom depends on it.”
— Dave Kliman

By: Coleman

Coleman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:16:16 +0000

to me, the times’ article actually is a call to action, while yours encourages complacency. the NYT article makes me proud of america’s usage of broadband and makes me feel like building on that strength. people like you make the US sound so hopeless that people give up on trying to get anything done. it’s not just gigaom, but every tech news outlet. while you are correct about the US needing more broadband, your tone is so overwhelmingly negative that the real message is: “the US sucks,” not “What can we do about this?” I am a long time RSS subscriber, and have read almost all of your guys’ broadband articles in the last year, so I know what your position is.

By: USA Leading the Broadband Connectivity Index. Really? | CloudAve

USA Leading the Broadband Connectivity Index. Really? | CloudAve — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:18:47 +0000

[...] FirstBroadband: It’s not what you got, it’s how you use itIs the U.S. a broadband leader or laggard?Broadband: Damned Lies EditionUS Broadband Statistics Prove that Statistics Can Mean Anything Posted Under : Analysis Tags [...]

By: Spandan

Spandan — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:53:21 +0000

Thats interesting. Reminds me of Mark Twain who was used to tell: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics”. No wonder, finally these guys also come to “Statistics”!

By: ronald

ronald — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:12:17 +0000

To rephrase Warren Buffet:

Beware of suits bearing parachutes

When the future arrives, they jump. Until then it’s just pie in the sky.

By: Vlad

Vlad — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:01:18 +0000

Stacey,
if you read all the sarcastic comments from all over the Europe under the article, you will see that not only we’re N1 first world country who doesn’t give a damn about cutting-edge modern technology, we’re also N1 country who does everything possible to impede progress in technology areas.

Such a sad state of affairs will inevitably lead to youngest and brightest getting education in only two surefire fields of study – law and medicine. Everything else seems to be not stable enough.