The United States is far behind when it comes to Internet Broadband speeds, mostly due to the FCC thinking that 4Mbps Download and 1Mbps Upload is enough in the current state of information systems.
USA is currently ranked 30th (19.18Mbps) for download speeds based on Ookla's Net Index. [http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/]
USA is currently ranked 40th (5.62Mbps) for upload speeds based on Ookla's Net Index.
[http://www.netindex.com/upload/allcountries/]
Both figures above are for households not businesses.
It's 2013, Fiber Optic has been in use at homes since at least 2004 (Verizon), but it really isn't affordable. If a company can supply fiber and they're one of few who can, they will monopolize every part of that infrastructure to drag hard-working citizens down.