Real broadband growth: There's China, there's the U.S. and then there's everybody else

While stimulus apologists insist the U.S. has fallen way behind in terms of broadband, actual numbers bear out the opposite. In terms of broadband connections, as of the end of the first quarter 2009, the U.S., with 84 million, is second only to China’s 88 million, according to Point Topic, a U.K.-based research firm that has been tracking broadband numbers for more than a decade. After China and the U.S., numbers dramatically drop off.

Japan ranks third, but with 30.6 million. South Korea, often held up as the example of broadband progress, ranks seventh with 15.4 million connections (see graph below)...