Ookla's Broadband Speed Test Results: San Jose #1

Despite its reputation as a high-tech hub, the Bay Area is trailing regions such as Minnesota's Twin Cities and metropolitan New York in Internet speed.

San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland posted an average download speed of 9.1 megabit per second in a recent 30-day period, compared with 12.4 megabits in Minneapolis and St. Paul and 11.6 megabits in greater New York City, according to Ookla, which operates Speedtest.net, a website where people can test the speed of their Internet connections. Within the Bay Area, however, San Jose posted the fastest download speed -- 13.9 megabits -- among 50 U.S. cities where residents logged at least 75,000 tests on Speedtest.net between mid-July and mid-August. But San Francisco and Oakland dragged down the Bay Area's average Internet speed, ranking 31 and 48 among the 50 cities with average download speeds of 8.6 megabits and 5.9 megabits, respectively. That's likely because more San Jose residents are willing to pay for expensive high-speed broadband connections, while more San Francisco and Oakland residents are accessing the Web through slower connections, like shared Wi-Fi, says Peter Sevcik, president of NetForecast Inc., an online-traffic analysis firm.