Postwar rebuilding? ISPs didn't exist until the 1990s.

Many parts of the US can get 100+ Mbps download as a non-expensive option, especially in Comcast areas and Time Warner areas where they have already built out Maxx. DOCSIS 3.1 should be generally rolled out by next year some time, which will allow for 1 Gbps.

While historically it may be true that the US has lagged, it doesn't necessarily follow that that's the case in perpetuity.

I'm pretty sure there are countries that haven't been quite as domestically conflict-free as the US ... especially since the '90s

The speed and cost is partially technology and partially who's competing in your neighborhood.

Prior to Google's arrival, we had AT&T and Time Warner as choices...both super-expensive and low speed. 6-10 Mb/s would cost you $50-80/mo. We get better than that off of the local cell tower.

Then Google started digging in our 'hood, and suddenly AT&T started offering 200 Mb/s for $70/mo. Time Warner went low-cost: $24.99 for 30 Mb/s. (We added TW at this point.) This was almost a year ago.

TW and AT&T did no visible work in our neighborhood: the new speeds and plans were delivered over their existing wires. (Whether they upgraded hardware nearby, I have no idea.)

Finally, in January, Google finished wiring to our house, and we dumped TW. In part because the service required a modem reboot every day and in part because what we were really getting on wireless devices in the house was much lower. Now we're at $70/mo. and we get right at a gig to the wired connection and around 400 Mb/s to wireless devices.

For now, and probably for a few years to come, we will consider that "fast" and not *too* expensive.

It might not be expensive for the US but it's still very expensive relative to other countries. And I don't see that changing any time soon, either, as it's nearly impossible to compete in that space. (Just ask Google how that's going.)

One possibility in the medium to longer term is LTE and 5G becoming dense enough to be a viable option vs. wired internet. Some wireless carrier in Australia recently tested gigabit LTE, for instance.

I think we were lucky to get Google Fiber when we did: they've definitely slowed their rollout.

During substantially long (in terms of time) power outages in my USA neighborhood, the local companies set out gasoline-powered generators to power the local-larger what-seem-to-be controller boxes in my neighborhood.

About 5-8 years ago, parents were having internet connectivity problems in their home (one via Ethernet to modem, other via WiFi) their in-home wired ISP. Telephone call from parents (via a 7 hour time difference) ... "The Internet is broken." Mom! Dad! The Internet cannot "break." The whole point is that it wasn't designed to "break." Is the wire snapped by a tree branch from pole to house? No. Good. Is the power on in the house? Yes! Good. Try turning modem/router off then back on. Wait a minute... The Internet works again! Great Mom & Dad, I'm going back to sleep! Strangely, when I woke up, there didn't seem to be any worldwide newsflashes that "The Internet" had been broken. Phew!

I can usually get faster when not using wireless...

I'm so envious of people with FTTH. Though I have never heard anyone say anything nice about CenturyLink.

They've been rock solid actually. I've had a few minor outages, always late-night/early morning and never more than 30 minutes to an hour. Activities that I would attribute to maintenance. I move a lot of large content around and regularly get +500Mbps (60MB/s) file transfers. I pay < $150/month.

I haven't had any issues and things "just work". If I had to call them or something, I'm sure there is a huge chance that it could become painful. For now, I'm pretty happy. I think Comcast +1Gbps is available in the area too, but there really hasn't been incentive/need to switch.

Here is an updated one from closer to my 802.11AC access point. The equipment you're using can play a big role in achieving Internet performance (especially at higher speeds).