High Speed Internet – Really?

Accidentally I came across a website of one of the high speed Internet providers in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It was Novus Internet service offering speeds of up to 300 Mbps. The lowest speed was 25 Mbps. Man! I decided to search for more providers in the same area and also came across companies like Telus (from 1 Mbps to 25 Mbps with two types of the service: Optik and regular DSL I guess) and Shaw (packages from 1 Mbps to 250 Mbps). There were some more that were going up to 25 Mbps or less.

So I took a look back to providers in my and other areas to find Verizon FiOS going up to 150 Mbps for almost $200 per month – uh. 300 Mbps with that Novus up in Canada $112.95 for standalone, and 102.95 if it’s bundled with TV or whatever. Hey! They certainly don’t have hiccups in their IPTV service, or do they? Outside of FiOS, I see XFINITY and AT&T Internet going up to 24 Mbps for which they must be proud of, ha? Then, there’s CenturyLink (merged with Qwest back in April) going up to 40 Mbps, and finally Cox Communications with its Ultimate package going up to 55 Mbps (this varies depending on the state where Internet service is provided).

Now, don’t get me wrong please, I am not saying how those providers in United States are bad or that I am condemning them in any other way. I’m sure they would offer higher speeds if they could. I just wonder about the technology and wiring in place which is limiting them to make offers like I had a chance to see up there in Canada. Why would Canada be any different than United States?
Or if it’s not technology and wiring, what else could it be?

For many users 10 or even 6 Mbps will do it just fine. Email, regular browsing, and some downloads do not utilize the Internet connection that much. But at the same time, just like with anything else, you have to keep up with the time and technology. Websites are more demanding these days, media is being run or downloaded everywhere, and therefore it may be that 10, 15, or 25 Mbps should be the starting speeds of those Internet service offers at quite reasonable price.

I say reasonable price because of two things, not sure how they go along at this moment:

• Internet should be affordable to anyone these days for many reasons.
• Considering the number of people that has some kind of Internet service subscription, one would think that the price should be lower than some years ago.

To me, it looks like this is a mash up of bit of everything, including those providers doing their best in an attempt to scrape every cent from us however they can.

Again, please don’t get me wrong, I’m doing OK with my AT&T U-verse, just like I would probably do if I have Comcast XFINITY or Verizon FiOS instead (won’t go into details or examples of bad experiences we can find all around).

I think it’s the time that those services be better and cheaper. Am I missing something?