US vs. Japan: Residential Internet Service Provision Pricing

The New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative released a report comparing residential high-speed Internet pricing in the United States and Japan. With broadband stimulus funding applications due soon and discussion over the creation of a national broadband policy heating up, this report sets a baseline for comparing the current state of Internet service provision. The Open Technology Initiative compares residential cable, DSL and Fiber-optic Internet pricing from major Internet providers in the U.S. and Japan, primary sourcing all information gleaned from each provider's website. The report reveals that the U.S. has less competition in the high-speed Internet access market, particularly fiber-optic Internet. Verizon is currently the only national-level fiber-optic Internet provider and offers only three main options of service. In the U.S., the price for the fastest download stream (50Mbps) is $145. In Japan, consumers have far more choices for fiber-optic providers and many more tiers of service to choose from, resulting in Internet download speeds of 100Mbps-1Gbps at a cost of $40 to $67 per month.