President Obama Calls for More Internet Options for Consumers

When President Obama said in the State of the Union that he wanted to extend the reach of the Internet to “every community,” he was really talking about increasing competition among Internet providers.

The cable and phone companies that provide Internet service are among the least-liked companies in the country. Yet as anyone who has shopped for Internet and cable knows, most people have no choice to buy it from any company besides Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T or Verizon. For Internet at the speed of 25 megabits per second, which is not that fast compared to the speeds in many countries, three-quarters of American homes have one option at most, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The result of the lack of competition is that most Americans have both slower and more expensive Internet service than people in many other countries.