The Top 9 Countries With The Fastest Internet Speeds: Akamai

Is your Internet running? Then you'd better go catch it...if you can.

Among the lists compiled by cloud platform provider Akamai in its "State of the Internet" report for quarter four of 2011 is one revealing the countries with the top average Internet connection speeds.

Closing out four full years of publication since 2008, Akamai's latest report, released on April 30, analyzes massive amounts of data that have been gathered from across its Akamai Intelligent cloud platform to show trends in connection speeds, attack traffic, network connectivity and more.

For its global outlook on Internet connection speeds, Akamai studied data only from countries that had made requests for more than 25,000 unique IP addresses in order to avoid unfairly comparing countries with large differences in infrastructure or population.

According to the report, the global average connection speed saw "an unusual, and fairly significant" 14 percent drop last quarter to 2.3 Mbps. When compared to last year's report, however, The Verge noticed that the global average connection speed has increased 19 percent.

In addition, TechCrunch reports that, while 8 out of the top 10 countries (ranked by averaged measured connection speed) also saw a decline in speeds in the last quarter, overall, only two countries saw year-on-year speeds drop. The rest saw large increases in average connection speed between this year and last.

Flip through the slideshow (below) to see the top nine countries with the fastest average connection speeds, but don't expect to see the U.S. on that list. According to Akamai, most Americans surf the web at 5.8 Mbps, making the U.S. the lucky number 13 on Akamai's list. And which country is the world leader in terms of average connection speed? You'll have to look through the slideshow to find out, but we'll hint that it's been the same country since at least 2007.

Are you surprised by which nations made Akamai's current list? Let us know in the comments! Then, see how these results compare with Akamai's fall 2011 report on the world's fastest average Internet speeds.

Loading Slideshow

• #9: Romania

  Average Connection Speed: 6.4 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 3.4 percent slower

• #8: Czech Republic

  Average Connection Speed: 6.7 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 7.3 percent slower

• #7: Ireland

  Average Connection Speed: 6.8 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 3.6 percent slower

• #6: Switzerland

  Average Connection Speed: 7.3 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 2.9 percent slower

• #5: Latvia

  Average Connection Speed: 7.8 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 12 percent slower

• #4: Netherlands

  Average Connection Speed: 8.2 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 3.2 percent slower

• #3: Hong Kong

  Average Connection Speed: 9.1 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 14 percent slower

• #2: Japan

  Average Connection Speed: 9.1 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 2.3 percent faster

• #1: South Korea

  Average Connection Speed: 17.5 Mbps Change From Last First Quarter: 4.7 percent faster

• How to Check Your Internet Speed

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Comments

[Adrian Dada]

02:44 AM on 04/05/2013

In Romania you get 50Mbps for 8 USD and 100Mbps with 14 USD

[pacigentri15]

01:29 PM on 02/12/2013

I saw part of interview in Bill Moyers show of this lady Susan Crawford and she described how the market in the US is being manipulated by this monopoly in internet industry. How the rich or people who can afford paying fast speed is being gouged and the poor is being left out. She has a book "Captive Audience:....". We are at the mercy of the biggest monopoly in this country again since the Standard Oil in the gilded age. This is where we need the government regulation to work for us, the people.

[vaulttecsystems]

03:33 AM on 12/27/2012

My internet connection is through C&M, one of the smallest providers in South Korea: my download speed, just tested through speedtest.net: 66.8; the cost: 26,000 KRW, or about $25 USD. Also, this cost includes no data cap, I'v never experienced throttling, and I get 113 CATV channels plus over a hundred music channels. Back home in Kansas, USA: 10 Mbps, 77 CATV channels, for a monthly cost of $96--and Time-Warner throttles the hell out me.

[Connor Wicks]

01:29 AM on 10/26/2012

Funny thing about the US is that google fibers needs to spread across the country now instead of being contained in Kansas/Missou. I mean 1 gig/second connection for $70 a month? Blasphemy. And yet this is a thing and it needs to spread fast (no pun intended.)

[Uiokojn Maynar]

10:39 PM on 10/01/2012

our internet speed and prices are a joke.

[Dustin Kruise]

05:54 PM on 08/10/2012

LOL here in holland you can buy 500Mb internet speed:P For 100 euros per month
i have a basic internet connection speed 1 of the cheapest in holland i can download with max 5MB speed:P and what i just read is that in america that 5.3 MB is the fastest what you can get there? Thats really funny. that for a coutntry who got windows and apple:P

[Sarthak Jain]

01:29 AM on 01/29/2013

Thats incorrect. 5.3 MB is the average here. Since Fiber optic cables are not everywhere, speeds vary depending on where u live. Where I live, I can get up to 65 mbps as my upload speed. That is if I want to dish out about 200 dollars a month.

[David Cornish]

04:51 PM on 07/02/2012

South Slope Communications in the Iowa City, Iowa area is offering speeds up to 220Mbps for $199.95 a month, or 110Mbps for $99.95 a month.

[CrEaTivE-X]

12:53 PM on 08/01/2012

In Latvia we get 50mbps connection a month for 16 USD :) 500 Mbps for 60 USD :D

[CaseyComo]

10:55 AM on 05/05/2012

Eh, the world could get by on 5% of the bandwidth that is used today, except for the pr0n.

[Matt Kahl]

03:42 PM on 05/04/2012

We've got quite a fast speed here in North-West Ohio. 110Mbps. The price isn't nice (180$/mo.) but at least we have the availability.

http://www.buckeyecablesystem.com/extremelyfast/index.html

[cmacattack]

04:36 PM on 05/03/2012

While it sucks that we don't have faster internet than a lot of countries. People need to realize those other countries have govt that will subsidize the costs but we can't have that here or the party of no will say it's socialism. It is reason number 78767860620946029465 why the free market is flawed and not the save all that the republicans and libertarians would have us think. In the end it means we will be left in the dust and considered the third world as far as technology is concerned.

[Tmorek]

05:10 PM on 07/01/2012

How is the free market flawed? The government spends much more than it makes, how can they subsidize anything? I spent $55 for broadband at 3 Mbps, 10 years ago. I now spend only $35 for 12Mbps broadband today, with the option of much fast speeds for only $10 dollars or $20 more. In fact 12 Mbps is way more than I truly require. So over the years the price went down and the speed went up, even though the value of the dollar decreased (probably by about 50% since 10 years ago). The problems with Republicans and Democrats is that they are part of the same two headed party. One wants more government, more tax on corporations and themselves, the other wants no government, but more war and "security". They don't seem to notice that Government = Corporations. Both parties seemed to quietly approve of "stimulus." They were told that if the banks failed there would be a Depression worse than the one in the 30's. Today's world and the world just before the 1930's were radically different. The elite have just managed to find a way to irresponsibly gamble away their money away while making more money by siphoning away money from the middle class. And members of the 2 big parties in their own way beg for their rights (Republicans by voting for war, more "security") and their wealth (Democrats by voting for higher taxes) to be taken.

[PTNYC]

01:43 PM on 05/03/2012

Like healthcare, highspeed internet access is another area in which we Americans overpay and receive inferior quality. This is what happens when the government does not lead and leaves competition solely to the monopoly players. Highspeed rail, highspeed internet, affordable healthcare and college education--those are four nobrainers which our government should be heavily subsidizing.

[cmacattack]

03:00 PM on 05/03/2012

I completely agree with you and if it weren't for the party of NO in D.C. we could get a lot more done.

[Tmorek]

04:35 PM on 07/01/2012

These countries are much different than the US as a whole when population density is taken into account. I would like to see the average speeds of big American cities like San Francisco, Chicago, NYC and then compare that to these small densely populated countries. It's much easier to create and update your infrastructure when you have a lot less physical technology to replace. The government is too big already. The federal government spends much more than it makes already. I pay enough taxes as it is, and asking them to tax me more and intervene in something as big as telecommunications is a big mistake. I'm more than happy with making my own decision to pay $35 a month for my 12 Mbps internet connection.

[MrPato]

10:43 PM on 05/02/2012

Wish I could get FIOS, but my area is at&t bed ridden.
It's not news that we've been lagging for many years. When it comes to telecommunications, we probably have the most complex, inefficient system of any industrialized countries.

[evilgoogleman]

08:45 PM on 05/02/2012

That's unbridled capitalism for you, it gets you 25th place or worse in internet speed rankings world wide. So let me guess, someone is going to reply here and say, it's not real capitalism we have here.

To which I say, you mean to tell me, Korea, China, Japan, Romania, Latvia, The Netherlands... THE NETHERLANDS has a purer form of capitalism than we do? No, it's just that capitalism is not always the best answer to every problem. Just sayin'

[nishioka]

10:40 PM on 05/02/2012

Capitalism isn't the answer for this problem. It isn't. There is no way you can deploy broadband to farmers in north-central Nebraska without incurring significant cost to yourself. I've been there, I've worked for a company that tried. When your only option is to deploy $10,000 worth of equipment just to get one guy on DSL, there is no incentive to bite the bullet and hope that guy sticks around long enough for you to break even.

Australia is doing it. They have their National Broadband Network, and in the end the 3% of the population that doesn't have direct access to fiber will have high speed wireless service.

South Korea mandated 12 years ago that all buildings be made broadband-ready. That was phase 2 of a plan that the government put in play in the mid-1990s, to get on top of this newfangled "internet" thing in a big way.

The people with the private sector fetish need to realize that this is one of those times where the best way to get the job done is for the country as a whole to invest in itself, rather than wait for a random mom & pop telco to do it. This is a public works project that could easily be taken care of on the taxpayer dime if people would shut up about "government takeover of __________" for 5 seconds.

[evilgoogleman]

06:25 AM on 05/03/2012

Very well said.

Because of our desire to be dogmatic about capitalism, we are falling way behind the rest of the world.

[beasteben]

05:46 PM on 05/02/2012

When Dota and Starcraft are (pretty much) national sports, of course they are going to smoke the competition.

[PCPrincess]

04:16 PM on 05/02/2012

Also noteworthy, the top two countries on the list are also tops in online gaming. South Korea is by far the country with the most gamers and top gamers have the same respect as some of our athletes or 'stars'.

[Brudvik Sophia]

07:29 PM on 12/14/2012

Right! When I lived in South Korea, I used to download a 2 gb-movie file in 30 seconds. It was amazing! In Norway here I need about 1 hour to download it.