Akamai: US Average Broadband Speed Reaches 11.7 Mbps

The average broadband connection speed in the US was 11.7 Mbps for the second quarter of 2015, according to the latest Akamai State of the Internet Report. That’s a slight increase of 1 percent since first quarter and an increase of 2.2 percent over the same period of 2014. While average connection speed measures the average amount of data flowing over a broadband connection, the average peak connection speed is a closer approximation of the capacity of a user’s connection. The average peak connection speed in the US was 50.4 Mbps for the second quarter of 2015, according to Akamai -- a decrease of 3.7 percent from first quarter but an increase of 11 percent year-over-year.

Although Delaware traditionally has held the top average connection speed position, it was usurped by the District of Columbia in the second quarter. While the average connection speed in DC was 19 Mbps, the corresponding number for Delaware was just 16.7 Mbps. All states in the top 10 had average connection speeds of 14 Mbps or higher.