Although the US has the highest number of fiber-optic broadband connections in the world, the technology is being adopted at a relatively slow pace in comparison to some other countries. Despite services such as Google Fiber, American households are not converting to high-speed internet as quickly as might be expected.
According to statistics recorded by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), there has been a steady surge in the use of fiber-optic internet around the world in recent months. Whilst the US leads the world in terms of sheer numbers, internet users in a host of other countries are quickly turning to fiber-optic connections too. In fact, the US only ranks 14th in the world when it comes to fiber-optic connection growth, out-ranked by Mexico, the UK, Chile, and New Zealand to name but a few competitors.
Whilst fiber-optic broadband connections offer much faster internet speeds than more typical copper wiring, it also comes at a higher cost for many people. Many people around the country do not even have the option to access fiber-optic services, with projects such as Google Fiber only covering a spare few selected cities around the country.
Though few homes currently see the need for internet connections anywhere over 100Mbps, the rise of more bandwidth-devouring online developments like 4K video may mean that this won’t be the case for long.
