Japan Is Future Internet Ready

It’s time for our periodic We-Suck-At-Internet rant, which entails comparing and despairing (thanks, Stewart Smalley) over how slow the Internet is in the US. Once again, Japan has us beat and is ready for next-generation applications like high-quality video streaming. But Slovenia? Lithuania? Latvia? They’re faster than us, too?

Not to lump them in with Japan in terms of broadband speed. No, Japan’s in a class all its own, and deemed the only nation in the world that is future-ready, according to a
The top 10 list in quality broadband is as follows:

1.    Japan
2.    Sweden
3.    Netherlands
4.    Latvia
5.    Korea
6.    Switzerland
7.    Lithuania
8.    Denmark
9.    Germany
10.    Slovenia

The Netherlands may move up a spot or two thanks to some Minnesota town are stalled by a lawsuit filed by the very company the town was ticked off at because of crappy broadband.

Telcos and cable companies across the US have tried to block similar municipal efforts for some time now, which may be part of the reason countries in the former Soviet Bloc are crushing us. Latvia? Lithuania? Slovenia? Really?
 
There is some hope of getting future-ready Internet in time for the future (see, it can’t come early because ISPs can’t just go upgrading everybody to the good stuff all at once—where’s the smart business model in that?);