It's not exactly a secret that I believe broadband in U.S. is pitiful. Here's what I wrote in April:

• Last month there came the news that eight countries beat the U.S. in broadband penetration. Now there's another new report, this time from the Economic Policy Institute, confirming that the United States is pulling up the middle when it comes to "high-speed internet penetration." Out of 30 countries surveyed, the U.S. ranks 15th with 22 high-speed connections per 100 residents. By contrast, Denmark tops the list with 34 high-speed connections per 100 residents, followed by the Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea, and Norway.

• It gets worse when you look at new broadband technologies. For example, 35% of Japan's broadband connections are fiber optic, versus just 3% for the U.S. Average download speeds in Japan are 61-megabits per second, while the average U.S. broadband user has to make due with 1.9-megabits per second. It isn't a pretty picture, to say the least.

But Kyle McSlarrow, CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents the big cable operators, is having none of it. In a video interview posted at FastCompany.tv, he explains why he believes people like me are just plain wrong. Or at least impatient. The good stuff starts 12:15 into the video and ends around 15:00.

Why is a country like South Korea ahead of the U.S. in broadband? McSlarrow: "The simple answer to the question is because they're ahead, but it's actually more complicated."

How so? McSlarrow gives three reasons:

? Don't believe the hype: First, he says he was told by network operators in South Korea or Hong Kong (he doesn't specific which) that their 100Mbps broadband claims were "just marketing." Translation: It ain't as bad in the U.S. as you think.

? Asians (and others) are just too dense: Then, a few seconds later, he blamed population density in Asia and in the other leading broadband countries. "You've got so many people in apartment buildings" in Asia, he said. Where a node in Asia serves one apartment building with 50,000 residents, in America one node serves "a couple hundred houses." These nations don't have to deal with rural broadband the way the United States does, he added, because they're smaller, more urban countries.

? It's Washington's fault: "Government policy unduly slowed us down with the rollout of boradband," McSlarrow said. He argues that it was only with "full deregulation" in 1999 that the cable companies could really get rolling with broadband. Now "we're building more capacity, the speeds are getting greater," he said. McSlarrow believes that greater competition will continue to drive this trend.

So the takeaway from McSlarrow and the cable companies is simple: Just chill. We're on the job.

Are you prepared to take his word for it and the cable industry's promises? Better still, are we as a nation prepared to stake the future economic competitiveness of the United States on the benevolence of the cable companies? Or even the Verizons of the world, for that matter?

If past experience is any guide, such questions seem to answer themselves.

It's not exactly a secret that I believe broadband in U.S. is pitiful. Here's what I wrote in April:

• Last month there came the news that eight countries beat the U.S. in broadband penetration. Now there's another new report, this time from the Economic Policy Institute, confirming that the United States is pulling up the middle when it comes to "high-speed internet penetration." Out of 30 countries surveyed, the U.S. ranks 15th with 22 high-speed connections per 100 residents. By contrast, Denmark tops the list with 34 high-speed connections per 100 residents, followed by the Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea, and Norway.

• It gets worse when you look at new broadband technologies. For example, 35% of Japan's broadband connections are fiber optic, versus just 3% for the U.S. Average download speeds in Japan are 61-megabits per second, while the average U.S. broadband user has to make due with 1.9-megabits per second. It isn't a pretty picture, to say the least.

But Kyle McSlarrow, CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents the big cable operators, is having none of it. In a video interview posted at FastCompany.tv, he explains why he believes people like me are just plain wrong. Or at least impatient. The good stuff starts 12:15 into the video and ends around 15:00.

Why is a country like South Korea ahead of the U.S. in broadband? McSlarrow: "The simple answer to the question is because they're ahead, but it's actually more complicated."

How so? McSlarrow gives three reasons:

? Don't believe the hype: First, he says he was told by network operators in South Korea or Hong Kong (he doesn't specific which) that their 100Mbps broadband claims were "just marketing." Translation: It ain't as bad in the U.S. as you think.

? Asians (and others) are just too dense: Then, a few seconds later, he blamed population density in Asia and in the other leading broadband countries. "You've got so many people in apartment buildings" in Asia, he said. Where a node in Asia serves one apartment building with 50,000 residents, in America one node serves "a couple hundred houses." These nations don't have to deal with rural broadband the way the United States does, he added, because they're smaller, more urban countries.

? It's Washington's fault: "Government policy unduly slowed us down with the rollout of boradband," McSlarrow said. He argues that it was only with "full deregulation" in 1999 that the cable companies could really get rolling with broadband. Now "we're building more capacity, the speeds are getting greater," he said. McSlarrow believes that greater competition will continue to drive this trend.

So the takeaway from McSlarrow and the cable companies is simple: Just chill. We're on the job.

Are you prepared to take his word for it and the cable industry's promises? Better still, are we as a nation prepared to stake the future economic competitiveness of the United States on the benevolence of the cable companies? Or even the Verizons of the world, for that matter?

If past experience is any guide, such questions seem to answer themselves.