The good people at Akamai have published their annual State of the Internet Report and, just like last year, the United States doesn’t have fastest internet. In fact, the country that invented nearly all of the technologies, hardware and physical infrastructure of the Internet didn’t place in the fastest internet Top 10.
“At a country/region level, South Korea continued to have the highest average connection speed at 24.6 Mbps but Hong Kong had the highest average peak connection speed at 73.9 Mbps,” writes Akamai. “Globally, high broadband (>10 Mbps) adoption grew 12 percent to reach 23 percent, and South Korea remained the country with the highest level of high broadband adoption, at 78%.
Anyone with more than a cursory knowledge of the world will note that the above countries are generally small and densely populated. In fact, broadband leaders and analysts have long complained that measuring the US against such countries isn’t an apples to apples comparison.
And, those people do have a point.
While it is true that United States has more people spread across a vastly larger land area, that does not explain away America’s lackluster ranking. I have few more twists to throw at you.
Did you know that the fastest internet (46.8Mbps) speeds in the US are provided by Midcontinent Communications (Midco) of Sioux Falls, South Dakota (top image). Not many people in that town, let alone that state or region.
Fastest Internet As Fastest Does
But South Dakota is a red state, so Midco must be one of those scrappy capitalist success stories we hear about from time to time? Scrappy, yes, but a fair portion of Midco’s success can be traced to its participation in President Obama’s National Broadband Plan and the funding, especially for rural projects, that entails.
In flat, wide open South Dakota, private rollout with public support is working.
In left leaning Vermont, a mountainous and rural example of the fastest internet (12.7Mbps average), the effort has a stronger government lead component.
Regardless of nation, state or region, the availability of fast broadband really comes down to one thing: the political will to make it happen.
Learn more about the broadband options available in your area by visiting BroadbandMap.gov and DSLReports Broadband Finder.
To learn about how you can help to promote a faster, more open internet, check out FreePress and Community Broadband Networks…
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