Akamai: Global Average Internet Connection Speeds Up 23% in 2015
Akamai released its Q4 2015 State of the Internet report today, the quarterly report card of how quickly the United States and the rest of the world is getting 4K-ready. With all the data in for 2015, Akamai can now say that the global average connection speed has shot up by 23 percent year-over-year, with Q4 improvements in 138 countries.
In the U.S., the District of Columbia again led the way with an average speed of 21.3 Mbps in Q4. It was followed by Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Utah, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, New York, and Washington. Of the top 10, D.C. showed the greatest year-over-year change, rising 48 percent, with Maryland close behind. Akamai points out that even the top states don't meet the FCC's new broadband threshold of 25 Mbps.
Across the globe, South Korea was again the country with the fastest average connection speed, delivering 26.7 Mbps in Q4. Following a tremendous 30 percent quarter-over-quarter improvement, it's moving farther ahead of the pack. The next fastest countries are Sweden, Norway, Japan, and the Netherlands. Of the top 10, Norway had the best year-over-year improvement at 65 percent. The U.S. came in 14th with an average Q4 speed of 14.2 Mbps. It ranked 16th in Q3 and 20th in Q2, and has the fastest speed in North or South America.
In Q4, 19 percent of unique IP addresses around the world connected to Akamai with a connection speed of 15 Mbps or better, which is the standard for 4K video. That's up from 15 percent in Q3.
Visit Akamai's State of the Internet site for more, including the ability to customize data and download heat maps.
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