Broadband For America and Telecommuting

I ran across an interesting organization last week. Actually, they ran across me and I’m glad they did. Broadband for America (BfA), is a coalition of more than 110 member companies and organizations which share the goal of bringing broadband Internet access to every home and business in the nation.

Its membership includes over a hundred companies that share that goal. As you might imagine, they too see the potential for telecommuting to improve lives, reduce pollution and gas consumption, and more.

Ubiquitous high speed broadband is an essential part of making to telecommuting and home-based work available to all Americans. As their website shows, it also plays an important role in healthcare, education, international competitiveness, and economic development.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), U.S. broadband penetration ranks 15 out of 30 countries. In terms of affordability, we rank 8th. And 10 countries advertise faster download speeds. In Japan, for example, 1,000 Mbps speeds is available (compared to 50 Mbps in the U.S.).

Considering that the U.S. is the world’s largest economy, and third largest population, that’s pretty pitiful, not to mention scary. How have we allowed ourselves to fall so far behind?

You owe it to yourself and your children to get vocal about our need for high speed, low cost broadband. Stay informed about the latest broadband initiatives at BroadbandForAmerica.