What is it with this obsession with bazzilion megabit a second Internet?

Google is going to spend some big amount of money setting up 100 or so megabit Internet in a city or two. I keep reading stories about how we’re slackers compared to the rest of the world’s broadband speed.

Yes, U.S. broadband speeds are a lot slower than they are elsewhere.

But, the DSL at work and the cable at home work almost instantaneously. The cable streams movies quiet nicely. Even the 3G and WiFi on the phone are OK, not good, but OK.

I understand the need for more bandwidth, but more speed? For what?