Form 477, Speed-Tests, and the American Broadband User’s Experience

Respecting the limitations of the speed-test data, I analyze a sample of over 100 million speed-tests conducted in the US in 2020. Through its Open Data Initiative, the data are made available by Ookla (speedtest.net). I also link the Ookla Speedtest data to the Federal Communications Commission’s Form 477 data for comparison purposes. This linkage allows me to explore how consumers experience broadband speeds and how such speeds compare to the maximum speeds recorded in the Form 477 data. First, the population-weighted average download and uploads speeds experienced by US consumers using the Ookla service in 2020 is about 130 Mbps and 39 Mbps, respectively. Second, I find that the average tested speeds satisfy the 25/3 Mbps standard for census block groups where 95% of Americans live, a share comporting with the FCC’s reported availability rate of 96.5% by year-end 2019. Third, I find that mean tested broadband speeds are correlated with maximum available speeds at the block-group level and a 100 Mbps increase in maximum download speed increases the average tested download speeds only by about 12 Mbps.