US Internet speeds tripled but still come up short
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US Internet connection speeds have tripled over three and a half years to keep up with consumer demands for streaming video and downloading content but the United States still lags many other countries.
The Federal Communications Commission said in a report yesterday that average download connection speeds had increased to nearly 31 megabits per second in September 2014 from about 10Mbps in March 2011.
Rising Internet speeds have been driven by consumer demands for growing amounts of bandwidth to watch movies, play video games and download data.
The industry is ramping up efforts to boost speeds. Google Inc is offering up to 1,000Mbps in nine cities, while AT&T is offering the same speed in 20 cities and plans to add 36 metro areas next year.
Comcast Corp said last week that it is testing its own 1,000Mbps service in Philadelphia and by the end of 2016 will offer the service in some other areas.
The FCC says video accounts for over 60 percent of US Internet traffic, a figure that may rise to 80 percent by 2019.
Still, the US only ranks 25 out of 39 nations in 2013, according to the FCC. It said the US was behind many countries including France, Canada, Germany and Japan but ahead of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Israel. The fastest was Luxembourg with average download speed of 47.32Mbps.
The report said Cablevision Systems Corp led with average download speed of 60Mbps, followed by Verizon Communications Inc and Charter Communications Inc each with around 50Mbps. Cox Communications Inc followed at 40Mbps, while Comcast was about 35Mbps.
In January, the FCC redefined benchmark broadband speed to 25Mbps for downloads, up from the 4Mbps set in 2010.
“Advances in network technology are yielding significant improvements in broadband speeds and quality,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement.
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