Now basing their determinations on real data and not just lobbyist Powerpoint presentations, the FCC earlier this month released a study highlighting U.S. broadband coverage gaps. While highlighting that ISPs have done some amazing work at getting broadband deployed to many areas, there's still roughly 14-24 million Americans without broadband, and their hopes over ever getting broadband is "bleak."

Of course the very idea that U.S. broadband wasn't a shining beacon of absolute perfection "upset" ISP policy, PR folk and lobbyists, who very quickly attacked the FCC for simply acknowledging what every major study concludes without fail: the U.S. is a mediocre player in terms of broadband deployment, speed and price. Today FCC boss Julius Genachowski defended the FCC's findings in a Seattle speech (pdf):Again however, the primary reason the U.S. remains mediocre in broadband price, speed and availability is a lack of competition. And again, the FCC isn't going to tackle competition because it would upset some of this nation's biggest campaign contributors. Trying to "reform" the infinitely-broken USF and doling out grants isn't necessarily a bad thing -- but none of the FCC's current proposals really get to the real problem: the fact that most people live in a monopoly or duopoly broadband market, and as a result pay too much money for frequently sub-par connectivity.