South Korea dominates latest broadband speed rankings.
Akamai has released its latest State of the Internet report, which covers Q1 2014, and the document contains both good and bad news for the United States.
The good news? Broadband speeds in the United States are up about 33 percent year-over-year, with the average broadband connection clocking in at 10.5 Mbps. That kind of connection is a standard offering at every cable Internet service provider in North America now, so the figure isn’t all that surprising.
However, 10.5 Mbps isn’t good enough to break the top ten. South Korea, Japan, and Switzerland take the top three spots with 23.6, 14.6, and 13.3 Mbps, respectively. Ireland takes the ten spot with 10.7 Mbps.
Finding an Internet connection faster than 10 Mbps in the U.S. isn’t much of a challenge, depending on where you live, but the report shows that higher connection speeds are still out of reach for many Americans. The lack of true broadband competition in most American markets keeps prices high, with price increases coming every 12-24 months, and customer satisfaction very low. South Korea’s broadband strategy is significantly more open and driven by competition. The end result? Faster speeds, and lower prices, year over year.
The report is chock full of other useful information, including broadband penetration numbers, and which U.S. states rule the broadband speed roost (spoiler: Virginia, Delaware, and Massachusetts are the tops). Check it out and drop your thoughts in the comments.
Source: BGR
