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Comment by Jnr | Hacker News Reader

I live in EU. I pay 15 EUR per month for 1 Gbps.

The EU is a big(ish) and diverse place. We pay about twice that for 40Mbps VDSL and about 2.5x that for 50Mbps LTE. To be fair, we could get something slightly (~20%) cheaper as we've got a "business" deal to get static IP addresses on each connection. The fastest consumer package we could get at this location (cable) is 500Mbit/s down, 40Mbit/s up for €80/month. (Their business level contracts top out at 300/40 Mbps and €200/mo)

I live in zone 2, London and we just happened to be on the single street that only has 10mbps available.

One of the biggest renting blunders I ever had.

The EU is also smaller and dramatically denser than the US. Nationwide service in the US is categorically different than servicing a nation in Europe. The rollout costs are dramatically higher.

This tired argument falls apart once you start looking into internet options in NY, Manhattan, 1st Avenue. Kinda sorta the densest spot in US, and all you can get is Verizon DSL or Spectrum Business Cable.

"New York Votes to Kick Spectrum Cable Out of the State" https://fortune.com/2018/07/29/spectrum-communications-kicke...

"New York City sues Verizon for not completing citywide fiber network" https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/14/nyc-sues-verizon/

Why do services have to be nationwide? Sweden didn't get wired by nationwide services, there are tons of local fiber ISPs that only service one city.

Case in point: The article. The US needs more of that. Do that in every town and you're sorted.

Part of this is the legacy of the federal government promising monopoly status to telcos in exchange for them bearing the cost of providing services in rural areas.

If the market had been allowed to work, and rural Americans did not get service until it was profitable we'd have a much different market in the US today.

Google the universal service fee which is collected on every usage of title 2 telecom services and has been for nearly 100 years.

People in the US pay for universal service.

Compare a US state to a EU nation and the differences are not insurmountable.

I'm also in the EU, if only for a few weeks more, £29 per month for 100 Mbit/10 Mbit up/down.

I think our bundle also includes phone and TV but we use neither, works out cheaper that way ...

romania?

Not OP but Hungary EU, 9 euro for 1gbps/300mbps (and no contract needed)

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