We don't have a response rate graph yet. We do have a time before first response rate graph. Fred is comparing the total number of emails that he gets vs he sends from/to certain people, which is not the same as response rate.
My original submission title was "Fred Wilson's Email Stats (and the secret to getting a response from him)". Looks like a Hacker News moderator edited my title, even though Fred talks about the secret to getting a response from him at the end of his post.
I live in NY and the situation is much worse here than in the cities I've lived in in Spain (Madrid and Jerez). Spain's internet and cell coverage is generally better.
Sorry. Actually, you are right. I thought you meant exactly the opposite. I will delete my comment.
We just sponsored an H-1B and a J1, and all I can say is to be careful about advice on forums. It's good for background, but get a _good_ immigration lawyer.
That's how we got started. Our university let us book private rooms for 2 hours in a row, so we reserved 6 hours every day (we're 3). We did that for 3 months. The library manager thought we were doing some class project and helped us get a good room every day :)