Well I have just got back from Aussie, and a couple of years ago was in the USA,
I have to say that we are VERY lucky to live in NZ.
I ran some speed tests both in the USA and in Aussie.
In the USA I was lucky to see 5mbps download and 1mbps upload.
In Aussie going through the middle of town in Melbourne I was seeing <5 down and < 0.5 up with 260ms ping.
A little further out I was seeing 11 down and 6 up ping 96ms
Back home and I was seeing 128 down and 36 up ping 36ms
We really have nothing to complain about!
In some cases we even have cheaper data!