Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
stefan.schueller.net
Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
1–10 of 464 posts
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#2Ziply fiber has 50Gbps service
Their service area is >15x the size of Switzerland.
(16k sq miles vs 250k square miles)
The overbuilding is a very annoying problem though, I agree.
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#3Why Switzerland doesnt have its own Starlink?
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#4The article does not include the word "density" at all. Switzerland has 2.5x the population density that the US does.
I absolutely believe that US regulation choices encourage telecom monopolies and suppresses service in the US, but it's impossible to make a credible argument for that without acknowledging the density challenges that the majority of the US (geographically) faces.
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#5I guess they don't bother using Speedtest in Switzerland, as the average speed seems about the same as the US:
https://www.speedtest.net/global-index
Must be a sampling bias or something.
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#6Why Switzerland doesnt have its own Starlink?
Why would Switzerland want Starlink when they can get 25Gbps fiber?
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#7I talked to someone laying fiber in Manhattan circa 2020 he said it was $25k / ft. That the permitting process took so long by the time it got approved the people on the city council had changed. That the conduits are so packed you can’t fit another fiber line in it and almost all of them are undocumented. All kinds of union circumvention BS from Verizon aka Empire City Subway who’s supposed to be maintaining this stuff per contract. It’s a shit show.
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#8The fact that some in Switzerland wanted to cap population at 10 million says a lot about their free market. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/14/switzerland-re...
Fortunately, the referendum failed. I mean, sure it's nice to have a small population, but I think it's also important to try to improve economic migration everywhere.
I actually live in a rural area in the U.S, and was surprised to see that I now have a 2-3 fiber offerings. A few years ago there was just one fiber company, but a utility company helped roll it out and I currently use it on a 100Mbps symmetrical plan (for what I use, it's more than enough).
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#9The article does not include the word "density" at all. Switzerland has 2.5x the population density that the US does. I absolutely believe that US regulation choices encourage telecom monopolies and suppresses service in the US, but it's impossible to make a credible argument for that without acknowledging the density challenges that the majority of the US (geographically) faces.
There are cities in the US that have 2.5x the population density that Zurich does. Rural Texas might have this excuse, but New York City absolutely does not.
Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't
#10The article does not include the word "density" at all. Switzerland has 2.5x the population density that the US does. I absolutely believe that US regulation choices encourage telecom monopolies and suppresses service in the US, but it's impossible to make a credible argument for that without acknowledging the density challenges that the majority of the US (geographically) faces.
It's fair to critique this article not covering this, but I also think this is largely a red herring. The vast majority of the issue in the US is suburban, where density isn't really a problem. The US has a lot of rural areas, but they represent a tiny fraction of the population.
As a comparison, Australia has roughly the same land-mass as the contiguous states, but with less than a tenth of the population. It has its fair share of ISP and telecoms issues, but not as the US for the most part. Most people live in cities with good internet infra, most of the rest live in towns with at least some choice. Not perfect, a long way to go, but better than the collection of monopolies the US has.