The median Internet speed is somewhere between 2 to 5 megabits per second in the U.S., analysts say, compared to above 50 megabits in Japan and low double-digits in European countries including Finland, France and Sweden.

The OECD data show that the United States is trailing many OECD nations on price and speed as well as subscribership. When the OECD first collected data comparing broadband subscribers per capita in 2001, the United States ranked fourth; at the end of 2007, the United States ranked fifteenth. Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden currently lead the OECD in broadband penetration per capita.

Transmitting standard video requires eight to ten times as much bandwidth as voice phone calls or music files. High-definition television (HDTV) will require five to six times the bandwidth of standard definition video.

Looking at recent trends in the growth of broadband usage, Technology Futures predicts that households will need 100 mbps capacity within the next decade.

This speed is much too slow to handle the growth in demand for Internet traffic. In 2007, the FCC reported that, of the total number of connections classified as broadband (over 200 kilobits per second, or kbps, in one direction), 31 percent cannot carry traffic faster than 200 kbps in one direction, and an additional 26 percent are slower than 2.5 million bits per second (mbps).

Integrating the installation of high-capacity dark fiber bundles into all Federal-aid and direct Federal highway projects offers the most cost-effective means to bring high-speed fiber connectivity to nearly every community in the nation and create a nationwide fiber infrastructure of unrivaled capacity.

Pew Internet & American Life Project’s May 2008 survey found that 29% of broadband users say they already pay more for home broadband speeds that are higher than the standard ones advertised by their carriers.