The Speed Matters blog, which was started by the Communications Workers of America, has been tracking the average American Internet connection in each state, down to the zip code level. According to the organization's latest data, comprised of 230,000 online speed tests, there has been little progress over the previous year in the last-mile speed of a user's Internet connection. According to the organization, the average real-time download speed increased only 0.4 megabits per second (mbps) to 2.3 mbps. According to the report, things get a little uglier if you examine global averages, and even uglier if you examine average upstream speeds:Obviously CWA has a vested interest in the work created by broadband network expansion, so they're pushing hard for some kind of national broadband strategy. "As a first step, it is long past time for the Senate to pass The Broadband Data Improvement Act (S.1492), which would improve our nation's broadband data collection and provide funding to states for public-private partnerships to increase broadband deployment and adoption," says Allex Kellner of the policy firm Blue State Digital, hired by CWA to nudge lawmakers.

"We are the only industrialized nation without a national policy to promote universal, high-speed Internet access -- and it shows," says CWA President Larry Cohen. "Most of our Speed Test users logged on with broadband connections such as DSL, cable modem or fiber. People with dial-up connections didn't take the test because it took them too long, so even these dismal statistics paint a rosier-than-reality picture of connection speeds across the country."

Of course getting people to agree on what that national broadband policy should be is no short order. Many continue to believe we don't need one. Others would like to see some of the money spent on, say, war -- used to improve the national fiber infrastructure. The Broadband Data Improvement Act has broad approval because it puts its weight behind public-private partnerships such as Connected Nation, though it's not entirely clear that such organizations have anything more than the incumbent duopoly's interests in mind.