Having once worked for a 'mom & pop' TelCo / ISP, I can vouch for this.
 It is no small feat to get fiber run in the US.  Yes, these smaller
countries (Japan, et al) and larger countries with small subdivisions
are providing better services... However, the U.S., as stated, is very
large, and our population is both compact/denser in major cities, as
well as spread out into the rural areas.

Think of the rising costs in fuel, the rising costs in any material due
to that rise in fuel, and then the succession of each step along the
way.  The price keeps going up.  String a line of fiber, and everyone
along the way wants a piece of it, but doesn't want to pay for the
increase in equipment to provide that infrastructure.  Old buildings
aren't made for new advancements in technology, neither are old roads
and conduit pipes under roads which may already be stuffed full of other
cable.  I know the latter is true at least in Buffalo, NY where I lived
about 2 years ago.  All this must be taken into account over the fact
that smaller countries have the same amount of spending money (Japan for
example) and a much much smaller land mass & infrastructure to deal with.

Just my pennies worth of thought.

  Tony E




Jim wrote:
> Joshua Zeidner wrote:
>>  Erich,
>>
>>    It may surprise many that the U.S. is considered to be relatively 
>> behind in terms of broadband penetration and market maturity( aka. 
>> affordability ).  In my view, this situation is due entirely to our 
>> current regulation policy.
> 
> While I agree that government regulation gets in the way, I have to 
> believe a lot of the problem has to do with the size of this country. 
> Install fiber to provide high speed internet service to the people who 
> live between Congress and Aguila along highway 71.  How many millions 
> would that cost?  How many customers would there be along those many 
> miles of fiber?  Answer: Maybe the guy who owns the gas station at the 
> intersection of highway 71 and US 93.  Put a thousand feet of fiber in a 
> high rise apartment building and you could have a thousand people on it.
> 
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