The United States of broadband: Location matters

The US is falling in the quality of broadband its ISPs are offering on a quarterly basis, although in the fourth quarter of 2011 that fall in speeds was seen by several other counties, with overall broadband speeds falling to a global average 2.3 Mbps from the third quarter to the fourth. The data comes from Akamai’s State of the Internet report, which uses the content delivery network’s data to construct a detailed report on web speeds, security and mobile connections. Om has covered the big picture, but here’s what the report says about the US. For the year, the global average connection speed was up a 19 percent, with double-digit percentage growth seen in eight of the top 10 countries and also in the US, which is ranked 13th. The U.S.’s average connection speed is 5.8 Mbps — a 14 percent increase from the previous year. Overall our average peak connection speeds ranged from 36 Mbps in Delaware down to 13.3 Mbps in Arkansas.