Bigger broadband bucks require better broadband brains

The biggest stumbling blocks in the U.S. to smarter broadband, however, are the core belief of Net neutrality proponents that any special treatment disadvantages those who don't choose to pay more and the parallel concern of consumer advocates that DPI and its variants violate consumer privacy by constantly looking at what consumers are doing on the Internet. Those political issues could well leave the U.S. mired in all-you-can-eat dumb broadband services while Asians and Europeans move forward with smarter services.

“This will take off overseas first,” analyst Vorhaus said. “Generally speaking, that's just because you don't really have the same conversations around neutrality and privacy with operators overseas.”