Top 19 Countries With The Fastest Internet Connection Speeds Ranked By Akamai (PHOTOS)

As Royal Pingdom reports, Akamai Technologies has ranked the average connection speeds for the top 50 countries on the Internet.

The 50 nations are made up of those countries with the most connected users. Akamai's data comes from the second quarter of 2010 and measures "real-world" connection speeds.

According to the Akamai report, the global average Internet connection speed is 1.8 Mbits/second, which seems paltry compared to the average speeds enjoyed in the countries that top Akamai's list.

Based on the findings, many of the fastest Internet connections are found in Europe. China, the world's most connected country, does not make Akamai's list because its average Internet connection speed is slower than the global average. Similarly, the United States, ranked #2 in terms of Internet users, enjoys an average connection speed of 4.60 Mbits/second, which is only the twelfth-fastest in the world.

We won't give away which country boasts the fastest connection speed (You'll have to view the slideshow to find out), but let's just say that it blazes past the United States at nearly 17 Mbits/second.

Check out our slideshow (below) of the top 19 countries listed by Akamai. Are any of these findings a surprise? Share your thoughts in the comments, then see our post on the top 5 riskiest country web domains.

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#19 - France

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Average connection speed: 3.36 Mbits/second Global rank in terms of Internet users: #9

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Average connection speed: 3.36 Mbits/second
Global rank in terms of Internet users: #9

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Comments

[HighDesertBob]

07:49 PM on 11/22/2010

Many of these countries never heard of dial-up. Still quite a bit of that in use here in USA.

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

02:29 PM on 11/21/2010

Is that why those Korean kids keep kicking my -ss in PvP?

[Marklar]

02:50 AM on 11/21/2010

South Korea has been THE place to be over the last decade. Great film industry and on the cutting edge of technology.

[Amin Khad]

07:20 AM on 11/20/2010

Good article Catharine. It shows the different attitudes countries have to development. The countries that have the fastest connections tend to be the most focused on developing their economies. Countries with greater population density also have a natural advantage in internet speed due to the effect of economies of scale.

[mugwump40]

08:56 PM on 11/19/2010

The fastest internet connection I ever had was in Krakow, Poland. I stayed overnight at the University.

[Ramkshrestha]

07:25 PM on 11/19/2010

In UK not only internet, everything very slow.

[JackTheSkipper]

12:29 PM on 11/20/2010

they follow the American conservatives way of life.

[deepthicket]

07:06 PM on 11/19/2010

The biggest difference between countries is not in the performance of their best and fastest systems: those are about the same everywhere. The differences in average performance largely reflect what the governments are willing to subsidize combined with what individuals choose to pay for. Frankly, 1 Mbps is a sorry waste of technology when devoted to those of us wasting our time reading and writing stuff on this forum

[FrTown]

05:01 PM on 11/19/2010

USA! USA! USA!
Oh wait, still buffering....
USA! USA! U...buffering....

[KidShalleen]

12:20 PM on 11/20/2010

It's all about the geet. Everything we have is the best money can buy.

You got the money??? Then you can buy it. You don't!!! Tough!!!

That is American Exceptionalism.

[playon]

04:57 PM on 11/19/2010

The American public will always have second-tier internet speeds as long as cable monopolies are allowed to flourish.

[loki]

04:30 PM on 11/19/2010

and how much less the price is for these services too. Its like that almost everywhere in the world, but good old USA. where its not what the market will bear, but what the ivy greed capitalist can extort.

[loki]

04:26 PM on 11/19/2010

look Ma, once again we invent it,and everyone else excels at it.. Go figure. Its true Ivy greed capitalism in progress. Depress the working class and poor with illusions and promises but charge for them as if they were reality.

[flossophy]

04:46 PM on 11/19/2010

Your beef is with the ever-expanding State.... not capitalism.

[playon]

04:58 PM on 11/19/2010

BS. Capitalism owns the USA - which is why there is no enforcement of anti-trust laws when it comes to internet access.

[Martel LXIV]

08:37 PM on 11/19/2010

Wrong. In fact, completely and absolutely wrong in this case. The 'state' created it and then gave it away for the corporate world to make a profit. Do the corporations do what it takes to actually EARN profit or do they instead merely take advantage of the fact that their competition is as incompetent and as unwilling to operate effectively and efficiently as they are? Either they're incompetent or those 'socialist' nations are eating our lunch. Take your pick.

[GrandOldParty]

03:39 PM on 11/19/2010

Global Warming or the Internet............... Which is Al Gore's better invention?

[harmlesstree]

04:52 PM on 11/19/2010

Two straw man arguments, combined with a healthy does of scientific illiteracy...you are a Republican alright! The Earth is flat!!

[Martel LXIV]

08:39 PM on 11/19/2010

The only invention of the Republican Party would be the propaganda talking point (a.k.a., lie) that Al Gore said he had invented the internet.

[captcct]

03:32 PM on 11/19/2010

They do not need to go to internet cafes. Starbucks here sucks. In South Korea it runs around 45mbs. There they Wi-Fi through a plug in modem on their laptops using Macs and Safari or via a cell phone (which the top five countries can do especially Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.) They do not use land lines anymore in the Far East unless out in the woods! I can sit on the beach on Union Island, The Grenadines, Caribbean and get faster downloads than here in Fort Lauderdale. So go figure. It's called Sprint although At&T are improving. Choices... geez! What next?

[Roan8]

03:14 PM on 11/19/2010

This is what happens when a country worships billionaires and provides more for them then the country as a whole. Putting all of your wealth in the hands of a few can only lead us further down as a nation.

And, I don't mean redistribution to the poor, although we've had redistribution to the wealthy. I mean providing good paying jobs to the majority of our citizens and building our middle class back up.

[wilray]

03:01 PM on 11/19/2010

Of course, internet speeds are uneven in the U.S. There are still people accessing the internet via dial-up service which will bring the average speed down. I am averaging around 20 Mbps. My last reading was 21.79 Mbps.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1037228025.png

[turkeyfish]

04:45 PM on 11/19/2010

But what are you paying? In Japan they are now rolling out 10 GBS for about $20.00 per month.

[FrTown]

04:56 PM on 11/19/2010

I pay $45/month for 15GB/S with Cox in VA

[wilray]

04:59 PM on 11/19/2010

I am paying $43 per month. I'm not certain how well 10GBS would work for me. All that speed would be fantastic, however I do have a 250gb per month usage cap. So far I haven't gone over it. My best month was 83gb; so far this month I have only done 33gb.