Despite the obstacles erected by big business interests, I remain excited about the promise of cheap wireless Internet access via city-funded WiFi networks.

Unfortunately, cheap is relative, considering Americans may have already paid through the nose to the tune of $200 billion for promised upgrades to existing broadband infrastructures that never happened.

That's the essence of a new e-book, The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal, written by Bruce Kushnick (a telecom analyst for nearly a quarter-century), outlining the scam job that allowed the Baby Bells to push for tax concessions and other financial perks at the state level.

In return, customers got higher phone bills and nothing else in return, and certainly not robust broadband networks. Sounds much like the shell game drug companies play in recycling "new and improved versions" of older drugs just to maintain patents on their health-harming products and keep that steady flow of cash coming.

U.S. residents and businesses pay two to three times as much for slower and poorer quality service than countries like South Korea and Japan. Since 2001, according to the International Telecommunications Union, the United States has fallen from 4th to 16th in the world in broadband penetration.

What passes for broadband in the United States is "the slowest, most expensive and least reliable in the developed world."

While about 60 percent of U.S. households do not subscribe to broadband -- because it is either unavailable where they live or they cannot afford it -- most Japanese citizens can access a high-speed connection that's more than 10 times faster than what's available here for just $22 a month.

In fact, Japan is now rolling out ultra-high-speed access at more than 500 times what the FCC considers to be "broadband" in this country.

America has become a follower -- not a leader -- in the broadband economy ahead, and the economic ramifications are profound.