Actually France is far ahead of the US in its internet coverage, at a much lower price.
Sellers on second hand trading site leboncoin.com keep saying to use the phone and not email (I.e. I presume they don't have a smart phone and data connection).
One place I stayed at had been trying to get ADSL for two years, even though it was reasonably built up.
As a NZer that travels a lot, the internet infrastructure appears less than 1st world to me.
I've got unlimited call + sms + 4G data (limited bandwidth after 20Gb) for 20€/month, and 300Mb/s fibre connection for 35€/month. I have not seen similar rates in the UK/US.