U.S. places a slow 6th in Internet speed

The L.A. Times reports:

Forget how far the nation is falling behind the rest of the industrialized world in the percentage of households with high-speed Internet access. A first-of-its-kind study released this morning shows that both California and the United States are taking a bigger thumping on what constitutes "high-speed."

The U.S. is a distant sixth place in terms of how fast data move through the Internet pipes for homes, schools, hospitals and workplaces, according to the study released by the Communications Workers of America.

The median Internet speed in the U.S. is 1.97 megabits per second. In California it's even slower, at 1.52 mbps. Both are dwarfed by No. 1 Japan, which offers users 61 mbps at the same price as U.S. service.

The difference in speed means that downloading a movie in Japan takes two minutes compared with more than two hours in the U.S.

I guess California isn't the trend-setter.