For millions of people around the world, broadband Internet access is big part of modern life. We download movies and music, play online games, share photos, and upload information to social-networking sites--all at ever-increasing speeds. Rates of at least 50 megabits per second--enough to download a DVD-quality movie in about 10 minutes--have become mainstream in cities from Seoul to Stockholm. In the United States, however, the broadband landscape is different: the average download speed is about 10 megabits per second, according to the broadband testing firm Ookla, and only 23 people in 100 have broadband subscriptions, according to the International Telecommunications Union (see "The Global Broadband Spectrum"). Statistics from the Organization for Economic Coöperation and Development rank the United States behind more than a dozen other countries--including South Korea, Japan, Canada, the U.K., Sweden, and Belgium--in both broadband penetration and average advertised speed.

Faced with these statistics--and the widespread assumption that access to high-speed broadband is critical to the country's economic health--the U.S. Federal Communications Commission created the National Broadband Plan, which directs up to $15.5 billion in public funds toward improving U.S. connectivity. The plan aims not only to ensure affordable and reliable broadband for every community but also to equip the majority of households (some 100 million homes) with lines running at speeds of at least 100 megabits per second. It's an attempt to shove the United States into the high-speed age--and all of it, the FCC suggests, is achievable by 2020.