Just a quick update today. I read in my ISP's newsletter about a new group promoting quality broadband in Australia, T4. It's good to see some big names behind the movement.
In Australia, I'm among the lucky minority with access to an ADSL2 Internet connection. While ADSL2 can potentially provide 24000Kbps downstream and 1000Kbps upstream, due to my line quality and the distance from the exchange I'm currently only getting 5568/864. However, I am paying $69.95 per month for the privilege and if I download more than 40gb my connection is slowed to 64Kbps for the remainder of the month. Compared to Scott Hanselman's guaranteed 15000Kbps/2000Kbps Internet connection for only US$50.00 per month my broadband is rather poor and from what I can gather Hanselman doesn't have a download limit.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, I'm among the lucky minority. Many users only have access to ADSL1 1500/256 connections and pay more than I do. Even more users, including some of my company's clients, can't get any better than dial-up or 64Kbps ISDN connections. These connections are unbearable to use VPNs or Remote Desktop to perform upgrades or maintenance.
Admittedly the sparse nature of the Australian population introduces some technical barriers and additional costs that Japan, the United States, and other better connected countries don't have to deal with, but groups like T4 and G9 have shown they are not insurmountable and will not cost as much as Telstra will have us believe.