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2018 Speedtest U.S. Fixed Broadband Performance Report by Ookla
With gigabit expanding across the nation, fixed broadband speeds in the United States are rapidly increasing. Speedtest® data reveals a 35.8% increase in mean download speed during the last year and a 22.0% increase in upload speed. As a result, the U.S. ranks 7th in the world for download speed, between Hungary and Switzerland. The U.S. ranks 27th for upload, between Bulgaria and Canada, during Q2-Q3 2018. Though 5G looms on the mobile horizon, fixed broadband speeds in the U.S. continue to outpace those on mobile showing both faster speeds and greater increases in speed.
During Q2-Q3 2018, the average download speed over fixed broadband in the U.S. was 95.25 Mbps. Average upload speed was 32.88 Mbps. [...] According to Speedtest Intelligence data for Q2-Q3 2018, Comcast was the fastest provider in the U.S. with their XFINITY Internet receiving a Speed Score™ of 104.67.
Mean download speeds varied widely across the U.S. during Q2-Q3 2018 with the fastest state (New Jersey) coming in 139.8% faster than the slowest (Maine). The East Coast fared well with 5 states (New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware and Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia ranking in the top ten. [...] Kansas City, Missouri topped the fixed chart as the fastest city in the U.S. during Q2-Q3 2018 with an average download speed of 159.19 Mbps. [...] Memphis, Tennessee came in last with an average download of 44.86 Mbps and Laredo, Texas was second to last at 55.37.
On average, U.S. consumers should have few complaints about recent increases in internet speeds. [...] As ISPs continue to build out their fiber networks and gigabit-level speeds expand we only expect to see internet speeds increase across the U.S. We'll check back in next year to see if all parts of the nation are experiencing the same improvements or if some states fall even farther behind.
Should consumers look forward to hitting their data caps now faster than ever, or are data caps being rolled back on gigabit connections?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @08:12PM (4 children)
There is no way average US home internet speed is 95 Mbps. Who here gets that at home? Mine is nominally 60 but usually slower.
We tested a new faster connection from Starry, but they did a sh*t install, and so we went back to Xfinity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @10:49PM
Sure it is, all you need is 26 people getting 60 Mbps for every outlier getting Gigabit at home and you have an average of just over 95 Mbps.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 14 2018, @02:08AM (2 children)
Oookla just rated my Comcast at 13ms ping, DOWNLOAD Mbps: 70.68, UPLOAD Mbps: 5.89 and we're on a cheap-ish plan.
95 average does seem optimistic, but if you cook the numbers a certain way I suppose you might get there.
Instead of average or even median, I think the better measure of "access" would be the speed available to the bottom quartile, or even bottom 5% of people who are seeking internet access.
Now, what's more meaningful: landline speed available at home, landline speed available at work, wireless speed available during the workweek, or wireless speed available on weekends out in the boonies?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Friday December 14 2018, @05:44AM (1 child)
A while back I read that most of the speed test sites are known and are simply given priority and left unthrottled. If you set up your own speed test, you'll usually find much lower speeds than what the well-known sites indicate you have.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 14 2018, @05:35PM
A not unsurprising supposition. I have noticed that my speeds, on good days, tend to match what the bill says I'm paying for.
Of course, when you attempt connection to any site, your net transfer speed is never better than the worst of your speed, their speed, and the speed of every hop in between.
Our transfer speeds at work are laughably bad, with particularly ping times. Something that takes me less than 5 minutes to download at home takes a minimum of 30 minutes at work, and sometimes as much as 6 hours if there's a bad (read: Windows based) transfer protocol involved. One of the many prices of a central corporate security structure.
🌻🌻 [google.com]