Of course, in Japan they can get 100M in most places for the equivalent of $40 a month. In fact, the US is way behind many countries like Japan. One of the main reasons is that cable and DSL companies don’t have to abide by common carriage, so don’t have any competition (as I’ve noted before).

The first cool thing about the high speed satellite thing is that the satellite internet thing could be a real competitor for the companies that control these land lines to our houses. Unfortunately, I’ve heard negative reports back from friends who have tried U.S. Satellite internet, and the U.S. companies certainly don’t offer options at that high of speed.

The second , and really exciting thing to me here is the implications of such a thing for people in the rural US, which is a big issue in terms of the digital divide, and is a big issue to me personally, since my ideal life would be for Maureen, the hound, and me to live back deep in the Ozarks woods, miles from anyone, next to a beautiful spring fed river, where I would rock contentedly on my porch, while surfing the web at high speed on a lap top. If Japan could just send one of those satellites over here, life would be perfect.