US falls further down the broadband price table, Syria tops list as the cheapest

[midian182]

In a nutshell: Do you think the price of broadband is too high in the US? Compared to most other countries, it is. In this year’s worldwide pricing table, the United States was found to be more expensive than 118 other nations. The cheapest country, meanwhile, is Syria, though there are good reasons for that.

The information comes from UK comparison website Cable.co.uk, which collated the data into the 2020 Global Broadband Pricing League Table. It wasn’t a great showing for the US, which was ranked 119th thanks to its average fixed-line broadband price of $50 per month. The cheapest US package out of the 27 measured was $18, while the most expensive reached $299, and despite the year-on-year cost falling $17.69, the US has dropped 14 places since 2019.

“While broadband in the United States is widely available and uptake is high, lack of competition in the marketplace means Americans pay far more than they should compared to much of the rest of the world,” writes the site.

Canada, on the other hand, has more reasonable broadband prices. Its average cost is $34.86 per month, marking a $22.8 YoY decrease as the country moves from 86th position to 69.

If you want the cheapest broadband in the world, look to Syria, where the average price is $6.60 per month and the lowest coming in at $2.52. It’s noted that this is largely due to the ongoing collapse of the Syrian pound and the war. Plus, the average speeds are just 0.9Mbps.

The rest of the cheapest countries are made up of Ukraine ($6.64), Russia ($7.35), Romania ($8.15), and Belarus ($9.87). The most costly area is the African nation of Eritrea, where the average price is $2,666 per month, and the most expensive package reaches $15,051.

The other most expensive consumer broadband packages on the planet are found in Mauritania ($1333.78), Turks and Caicos Islands ($1488.11), Lao People's Democratic Republic ($4386.95), and Yemen ($8333.33).

“The expense comes from a combination political climate, warfare, of extremely low take-up (no economy of scale) and the fact that in most cases the price you pay will go in large part to actually building a physical line to your property since few already exist. These 'works costs' rise exponentially the further your abode sits from each country's main urban centers.”

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/83635-us-falls-further-down-average-broadband-price-table.html

 

[Uncle Al]

What is truly disappointing is the US constantly preaches about extending internet to the rural communities yet it still hasn't happened. With the kind of profit margins available there is simply no excuse .... just common greed. The government has yet to enforce one of it's "regulations" concerning internet. If they can't stand up to the pressures they need to get out of the business of making laws and regulations ......

 

[Squid Surprise]

What is truly disappointing is the US constantly preaches about extending internet to the rural communities yet it still hasn't happened. With the kind of profit margins available there is simply no excuse .... just common greed. The government has yet to enforce one of it's "regulations" concerning internet. If they can't stand up to the pressures they need to get out of the business of making laws and regulations ......

Don't worry... Trump is on it!
https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/13/american-broadband-initiative-rural-internet-us-government/

It's been a little less than a year, so I'm sure it will happen pretty quick now... I assume that the funding will come from Mexico...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I've been with Verison FIOS for the last 12 years.

The service has been flawless. I think I may have had to call for support twice in that time span and both times, I'd accidentally unplugged something. They walked me through re-plugging it and I was back online.

$200 a month with TV/ Internet and phone in my first house. (all premium channels)
$155 in the second - my rental prperty. (I reduced the premium channels)

The other major option is "Spectrum" which formerly was Time Warner. The service is cable rather than fiber optic. It's trash. Constant issues...terrible phone service... lower internet speeds.

I am actually proud to tell Spectrum's telemarketers that I'm with Fios and they couldn't pay me to leave.

 

[rrwards]

I've been with Verison FIOS for the last 12 years.

The service has been flawless. I think I may have had to call for support twice in that time span and both times, I'd accidentally unplugged something. They walked me through re-plugging it and I was back online.

$200 a month with TV/ Internet and phone in my first house.
$155 in the second. (I reduced the premium channels)

The other major option is "Spectrum" which formerly was Time Warner. The service is cable rather than fiber optic. It's trash. Constant issues...terrible phone service... lower internet speeds.

I am actually proud to tell Spectrum's telemarketers that I'm with Fios and they couldn't pay me to leave.

Man that still seems hella expensive to me. I've got a buddy who lives about an hour north of Detroit, pays $70 a month for 1gig fiber and adds youtube TV for another $50. That seems like a much cheaper proposition than double paying for two cable lines.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Man that still seems hella expensive to me. I've got a buddy who lives about an hour north of Detroit, pays $70 a month for 1gig fiber and adds youtube TV for another $50. That seems like a much cheaper proposition than double paying for two cable lines.

Youtube $50?

I'm a Youtube Partner.

I refuse topay them.

 

[kira setsu]

Theres 2 providers in my area, every 6 months I call and cancel my current one then call up the other for their "new customer" deal which is usually $35-45 a month, sometimes I dont have to cancel and they just let me keep the low price and sometimes they tell me to go kick rocks.

it's annoying cause if you pester them you get a decent price so why not just leave it low so I dont have to yell at them every 6months

 

[madboyv1]

I pay about $100 for gigabit and phone line which I got fairly recently. Better than two-three years ago, paying $150 for 100up/down, phone, and some cable channels.

Still fairly expensive all things considered.

 

[rrwards]

Youtube $50?

I'm a Youtube Partner.

I refuse topay them.

Okay so use any of the other TV streaming options and stop paying for cable twice?

 

[GreenNova343]

Hmmm...so the "best" price is a country whose average speed barely qualifies as "broadband". And they note that for the 2nd-place country (Ukraine) only 50% of their residents have access (vs. the 90% listed for the UK)? I think their "results" are a little simplistic.

Since they apparently know a) the average connection speeds, b) average monthly price, & c) percentage of residents with access to broadband, they should actually be providing the following:

1. A comparison of monthly price per Mbps. Because, sorry, I may pay 10 times as much per month as the average Syrian, but I'm paying for a connection rated up to 100 times as fast (& even the average connection I get is easily 75 times as fast), which means I'm getting a much better deal.

2. A rating of average connection speed x percentage of coverage. If country A averages 50% faster than country B, but country B has twice as many people with access to broadband, then country B's residents are in a better (or at least more egalitarian) compared to country A's residents.

3. A comparison of QoS (Quality of Service) ratings. Not sure if they did that or not, but again, if country A has faster speeds, but country B's QoS is drastically higher, then country B's residents will have a much better experience with their broadband.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Hmmm...so the "best" price is a country whose average speed barely qualifies as "broadband". And they note that for the 2nd-place country (Ukraine) only 50% of their residents have access (vs. the 90% listed for the UK)? I think their "results" are a little simplistic.

Since they apparently know a) the average connection speeds, b) average monthly price, & c) percentage of residents with access to broadband, they should actually be providing the following:

1. A comparison of monthly price per Mbps. Because, sorry, I may pay 10 times as much per month as the average Syrian, but I'm paying for a connection rated up to 100 times as fast (& even the average connection I get is easily 75 times as fast), which means I'm getting a much better deal.

2. A rating of average connection speed x percentage of coverage. If country A averages 50% faster than country B, but country B has twice as many people with access to broadband, then country B's residents are in a better (or at least more egalitarian) compared to country A's residents.

3. A comparison of QoS (Quality of Service) ratings. Not sure if they did that or not, but again, if country A has faster speeds, but country B's QoS is drastically higher, then country B's residents will have a much better experience with their broadband.

I do agree with the ability to rank "price per megabit" kind of the same way Techspot does "price per FPS" when reviewing video cards / CPUs...

Let's take any war-torn nation out of the picture though, as let's face it, internet is really not a huge priority if you're living in Syria right now - and even if they offered 10gps for $1, you wouldn't move there.

 

[jizzyburnizzy]

I pay $70 for 100/10 on Spectrum
I also use youtube tv for $50/month

 

[Gars]

Broadband? that should be something that qualifies 'bang for bucks' right?

that is for 11 euro/month (and that is expensive)
as you can see, the target is only 2k km away from me
local speeds are x4

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Don't worry... Trump is on it!
https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/13/american-broadband-initiative-rural-internet-us-government/

It's been a little less than a year, so I'm sure it will happen pretty quick now... I assume that the funding will come from Mexico...

Dont worry, everyone sees through your attempt to pin this on Trump, despite this issue extending through every administration since the internet became commonplace.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Dont worry, everyone sees through your attempt to pin this on Trump, despite this issue extending through every administration since the internet became commonplace.

Actually it was just a Trump joke... but hey, read whatever you want into it

 

[bviktor]

I hereby declare this survey bull. In Hungary you pay about $10.3 for 1 Gbps, where DIGI is available. And that's after the generous 27% VAT.

 

[Rayneofpayne]

I do agree with the ability to rank "price per megabit" kind of the same way Techspot does "price per FPS" when reviewing video cards / CPUs...

Let's take any war-torn nation out of the picture though, as let's face it, internet is really not a huge priority if you're living in Syria right now - and even if they offered 10gps for $1, you wouldn't move there.

The main issues with comparing FPS per dollar spent, can be an extremely poor viewpoint, it's fine as long as everything is Apples to Apples comparison...but the reality is so very few series of cards qualify for that.

I am alright with pricing tiers by Gigabit but only if there is direct comparative competition in a given area..which there never is because of insider BS agreements of them not bothering to compete in the same area with the same ratings. So the argument tends to fall apart, you should pay based on what you get at the Modem. In other words if you are paying for Gigabit and only get around average 700mb/s at anything higher than 25 latency ping they should subtract from the bill they give you. Companies like Comcast are more busy trying to throw up artificial caps and like frontier creating artificial charges and such rather than actually delivering what people pay for. The max price should be based on performance not gigabit packages they can't provide in the first place, one of the most common isp complaints is not getting the rated service you pay for, while the second is junk fees.

 

[wiyosaya]

I pay $70 for 100/10 on Spectrum
I also use youtube tv for $50/month

I am on a promotion from spectrum for the same tier - $45/mo. In my area, however, there is a fiber competitor coming up - $50/mo for 500/50. I think spectrum is laughing at them right now, however, if they stick to their target date, I'll be dropping spectrum, permanently, in March.

I was on spectrum at 20 something down for about the same price, but I played hardball with them, and went back on the 100/10 deal. I know for a fact that in my area, one has to play hardball with them as they are not bumping existing customers up to 100/10 unless one does play hardball with them.

It will be interesting to see what spectrum does in my area once the fiber provider becomes more widespread.

 

[netman]

I pay $30 for 100/10 Mbps DL/UL with 400 GB monthly data allotment in US....

One important thing the article (and the survey) missed to discuss is the monthly data allotment and its relation to the speed if the package is not an unlimited data one....!

With more and more people get connected to internet everyday, the speed is becoming the lesser of importance than the amount of data that comes with the monthly package... It is not ideal if you have 1000 Mbps connection but only have 200 GB data allotment...! As a result you pay the penalty for the extra data usage that you thought you would be saving...!

 

[Mr Majestyk]

When you have a low life like Ajit Pai running the FCC this is what you’ll get, a scumbag protecting his friends in the Telco sector. Like everything in the USA, health, education, insurance, the services are only for the rich

Dont worry, everyone sees through your attempt to pin this on Trump, despite this issue extending through every administration since the internet became commonplace.

LOL, Agent Orange appointed that scumbag Ajit Pai, knowing exactly what this turd would bring to the table. He’s mad a poor situation much worse and made it highly partisan. Picking a former Verizon lawyer to head the FCC was a slap in the face to rural America especially.

 

[Athlonite]

I'm here in the bunghole of the world (NZ) or as most techy people here like to call us Gougeland and for FTTH 900d/500u and a voip landline and true unlimited data (not a 1TBpm cap) I pay $58.40USD ($89.95NZD) and I can choose between atleast 30 ISP's available

 

[Markoni35]

Syria looks like a promised land. They've got cheap internet. The prices of hotel accommodation is very low (especially after the opposition bombs the hotels). And on top of that, there's no unemployment, since you can always get a well-payed job in ISIL.

 

[Ryan Barrett]

I've been with Verison FIOS for the last 12 years.

The service has been flawless. I think I may have had to call for support twice in that time span and both times, I'd accidentally unplugged something. They walked me through re-plugging it and I was back online.

$200 a month with TV/ Internet and phone in my first house. (all premium channels)
$155 in the second - my rental prperty. (I reduced the premium channels)

The other major option is "Spectrum" which formerly was Time Warner. The service is cable rather than fiber optic. It's trash. Constant issues...terrible phone service... lower internet speeds.

I am actually proud to tell Spectrum's telemarketers that I'm with Fios and they couldn't pay me to leave.

That is still ridiculously expensive. Do you know the average price/performance ratio in South Korea?

 

[Capaill]

They also measure worldwide speeds and the US is 15th best in the world:
https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/speed/worldwide-speed-league/

 

[mbrowne5061]

I've been with Verison FIOS for the last 12 years.

The service has been flawless. I think I may have had to call for support twice in that time span and both times, I'd accidentally unplugged something. They walked me through re-plugging it and I was back online.

$200 a month with TV/ Internet and phone in my first house. (all premium channels)
$155 in the second - my rental prperty. (I reduced the premium channels)

The other major option is "Spectrum" which formerly was Time Warner. The service is cable rather than fiber optic. It's trash. Constant issues...terrible phone service... lower internet speeds.

I am actually proud to tell Spectrum's telemarketers that I'm with Fios and they couldn't pay me to leave.

I got FIOS for $110/mo for pretty much just internet and the most basic cable plan they forced me to buy (literally included in the price). Did you buy fancier cable or something?