BroadbandNow lets you search for the best Internet in your area

According to BetaNews, the United States continues to lag behind many other nations when it comes to broadband penetration and access speeds. To make matters worse, Americans pay more for Internet than many countries with faster speeds.

BroadbandNow.com, which has helped over 1M people search for Internet, takes your zip code and helps you find the best Internet providers in your area, analyzing their plans, prices and rating for all available providers.

It’s a Texas based startup, and provides all relevant broadband information, from provider footprints to local pricing statistics, on what kind of coverage is available for your current or prospective address. The company was founded by Duane Anderson and Nick Reese, who after founding a successful email marketing company Gwun, which later served over 400 realtors and marketed thousands of luxury properties, decided that he wanted to make a larger impact.

“We still have over 800,000 Americans without access to any broadband connection of 3mbps or higher, even wireless. One of our primary goals is to bring attention to under-served areas to help raise awareness and foster competition,” says Nick Reese.

To solve this challenge, BroadbandNow spends countless hours crunching relevant governmental data, over one billion rows of data to be exact, to help customers make an informed decision of what is available in their area. Instead of contacting 30 different providers yourself to analyze which coverage is best for your needs, BroadbandNow gives you an analysis of different plans, prices and ratings for all available providers.

BroadbandNow is also the only company that provides an API to access broadband availability data at an address level and gives access to an ever-growing amount of provided proprietary data including: More than 486,212 On-Net and Near-Net addresses; over 2,569 provider footprints; and Information on 1,200+ datacenters. The startup also creates a host of resources that have been sourced by the US House of Representatives to local state offices.

“Whether you’re looking for service at new location or you’re shopping for alternative providers at an existing location, finding which providers have network near you is key to expanding your Internet options,” Reese continues. “ With our “Calculated Near Net” results, we’ve streamlined this process to show you a rough estimate of how far away a provider’s network is from your location.”

Founders Nick Reese and Duane Anderson tend to lean away from the cameras, however they’ve long been recognized as leaders within the entrepreneurial community. Nick earlier spoke at the White House about what it takes to build a business in a tough economy, and in a prior life also co-authored a book with New York Times best selling author Chris Brogan. He’s also the CEO of Microband Media, a company that builds profitable web assets, and has mentored over 100 entrepreneurs who have built businesses with with more than $100K in revenue.