The U.S. Lags in Mobile Connectivity Speeds

As broadband consumption moves increasingly to mobile devices, the speed of wireless networks is becoming crucial and many carriers are increasing speeds, according to Akamai's just released report "The State of the Internet."

The report finds that nearly all carriers, (95 of 109) have increased connectivity and 19 of the world's carriers now provide speeds of 2 MBPS or above. The fastest mobile connection is in Slovakia where the connection speed by one provider clocked in with an average of 20 MBPS and peak at 36.

In the Americas, Canada surpasses the U.S. with an average connection speed about four times faster. Peak connection speeds in Canada can be as fast as 13 MBPS while in the U.S. top speeds don't exceed 3.0 MBPS.

Mobile connections in Puerto Rico can be as fast as 9 MBPS.

Broadband Connections

For wired, broadband connections, South Korea continues to hold a wide lead over the rest of the world with an average connection of 16.6 MBPS with peak connections at 38. The average in the U.S. is 4.6 with peaks at 16.4. The state with the fastest connections is Delaware, according to the Akamai study.

We caught up recently with the new Akamai president David Kenny recently for this interview.

You can also find this post at Beet.TV

 

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Comments

[frank day]

09:05 PM on 10/22/2010

I live in rural Indiana and our local Telecom is rolling out 100 mbs service, Sweet!

[InterVUme]

02:14 PM on 10/21/2010

Pretty embarrassing stats for the U.S.

Alan
http://mailVU.com

[Poligulous]

02:52 PM on 10/20/2010

Uhmm... all 4 major carriers in the US top out at far higher than 3 mbps... just not nationwide.

[Gregory Goldmacher]

01:56 PM on 10/20/2010

Is this because the US had more pre-existing info-tech infrastructure, and thus had less freedom to innovate with the latest technology?

[lightnessandjoy]

02:43 PM on 10/20/2010

No, it's because everyday in almost every way the US is falling behind.

[MurrayAbraham]

12:20 PM on 10/21/2010

I think it has more to do with the disastrous habit of management in the US were one tends to stay put until a competitor does more. (That's how GM and Chrysler got hit while Ford did well because it competed worldwide.) On the other hand Asians and Europeans have a tradition of steadily improving their offer, regardless of what competitors, if any, do.