What does the world need to do to get internet speeds and prices like Japan?

Let's be frank here... Japan is awesome :)

we need a goverment that is willing to spend the money setting up fiber lines, and competetive companies that want to make prices lower. What we have at the moment is money grabbing companies, that have prices much higher than they need to be

We need the government who is willing to spend the money to get internet speed higher and for it to cost allot less...

AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE STOPPED BEING MADE IN CHINA

This means China gets more money for their products because everything is made in China and nothing very much is made anywhere else.

I honestly can't believe Canada is that far up...

Goverment and/or Big Business Subsidized/Free Broadband Internet is the future. I predict the global mergers of Cable & Power Companies. Broadband Over Powerlines is going to be a major game changer. We already see Telephone, Cable TV, Internet, Home Security, etc. bundled. Internet Cafes as a business is being replaced by the growing number of Free Wi-Fi Hotspots.

: Fiber for Communities: Get Involved

Cheap & Free High Speed Internet is coming, but Net Neutrality is at stake.

Very simple. 2010 population density of Japan is about 339 people per square kilometer (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107666.html). 2010 world population is about 6,879,685,378 (http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html). To get the same population density as Japan, we would need to put the entire world population in an area of about 20,294,057 square kilometers, or about the size of Canada and the USA combined.

Think about that. The population of the US and Canada combined is under 350 million people. Imagine 20 times as many people living in the same area to get to the population density of Japan. That is the simple reason why they have such good Internet connectivity, such a great train system, and everything else.

On the other hand, I'm helping build a rural fiber optic network, so with luck we'll have something comparable in the next few years in western Massachusetts.

if you approached life like Japanese people you would not need fast speeds as you wouls probably be more preoccupied with some other crazy thing.

Cut spending and make the internet a basic right. Supply it to everyone. Then, spend a little bit of the budget every year for 10 years bringing fiber cables to everyone. Then, we'll have the Japs beat. (note: 'Jap' is an appropriate term when used to save my fingers from typing)

My Comcast is 50 MBit (clocked at 62/11), not even business class. Fairly happy with it. $116/mo, but made up for by skipping TV.

Look at the size of our country compared to Japan. We just have so much real estate to cover. @HHBones: We do not need to make the internet a basic right. That would open loopholes, just look at what happened to our housing market. Plus in rural areas in Japan don't have internet (same in US) or maybe even electricity (not 100% sure on that). Once the final stage of moving from analog to digital communications is complete then you'll start to see prices drop. Price for internet is up because the US government mandates companies to keep analog communications running so the price of digital is up just to keep analog a float. As of 2009 analog TV was ended. It's not as easy to run cable than it is to give vouchers for digital converters.