The Best and Worst States for Broadband Internet

The US remains very behind in broadband speeds for industrialized countries, with an average speed of only 5 Mbps. This compares to South Korea’s 20.4 Mbps and Japan’s 15.8 Mbps.
Within the US though, speeds vary greatly. According to a recent study average speeds range from Delaware’s 9.91 Mbps all the way to Montana’s 2.32 Mbps. California, perhaps one of the most tech friendly states, ranked only 11th with 6.64 Mbps.
“Every American should have affordable access to high-speed Internet, no matter where they live. This is essential to economic growth and will help maintain our global competitiveness,” said Larry Cohen, the president of the company that conducted the study.
Still though, it should be noted that the study is not perfect. Some states were blessed with more data points to draw from than others, and it did also include US territories such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where notably slow speeds lowered the average. But, at any rate, we’re still quite behind our Asian friends.
Image Credit: CWA
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Mysts
August 27, 2009 at 10:34am
Live here in michigan and I must say for the area in which i reside Comcast has more disconnnection issues but for a faster connection. Verizon has a solid connection but at a much slower rate on my side of the road.
Im with the guy that posted about the FIOS, we are really not behind on speeds. We are behind on our providers wanting to give us access to the faster speeds like the FIOS connection 50Mbps for 50 dollars. I like that. My brother loves that.
But as he said, they dont just want to make it available in areas where people are demanding it. I wish getting cable and satelite connected internet would be like getting cable tv or satelite tv. Even if your the one starting the connect you have to pay a fee. It still be nice.
this way you can gather a few neighbers say hey, we can pitch in. get this great connection here. and all have a no lag issue. etc etc.
Yes there will be different choice of compaines etc etc. But its better than running in single digit speeds
Sincerely
Mysts
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Wildebeast
August 27, 2009 at 10:31am
I'm a little surprised to not even see a link to the full list. Not finding anything like it, in my Google searches...
I have a theory that there's only any real competition in broadband, where the population density is "high enough." So---huge populations all over the lower 48 are out of luck, just because we're too many miles from a city with more than 50,000 customers; and so are stuck with either finding/forming their own cooperative, or: http://stopthecap.com/2009/06/04/minnesota-court-rules-broadband-is-a-utility-not-just-something-nice-to-have/
I can understand that the ISPs don't want to "just eat" the cost of laying all that fiber optic, but I don't think that justifies their hosing their customers for 15-20 years, to pay for it (we hope).
I'd love to kick my phone company to the curb, but I can't do it, when my choices are $65/month or as part of a $100/month package that includes cable tv (which I also don't have or use).
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MeTo
August 27, 2009 at 8:38am
It's all about cost in other countries it cost half as much so they get the higher speeds. there is no way i would pay 50,60,70 bucks a month for internet.
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Sonickid101
August 26, 2009 at 9:45pm
RI Represent!!! but yea still pretty sad compared to South Korea's 20MB/s USA needs to play catchup in general and get with the times but then again you could argue that since we're a bigger country its harder for us but thats still no excuse to rest on our laurels. Now if you'll excuse me i'll go download things at around 2MB/s on bit torrent while playing CounterStrike Source. Verizon Fios FTW, Cox cable wasn't that bad before it had dial up before that. I talk about dial up like the israili's talk about holocaust I will say "never again".
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snapple00
August 26, 2009 at 9:42pm
Look you idiots,
Just because YOU have a faster speed than the average posted speed, doesn't mean that the study is wrong...
10Mb here in Texas, but its 50 bucks a month which I think is a rip off. Otherwise its DSL hell.
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1337Goose
August 27, 2009 at 9:37am
I agree with MeTo's comment below. Calling people idiots is uncalled for. Also, if you Ctrl-F the word "wrong" on this page, your comment is the only one that pops up. If you read, most people aren't commenting to say that this survey is wrong, they're commenting to share how their personal experiences compare with the survey's results.
~Goose
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MeTo
August 27, 2009 at 9:25am
Real intelligent. People come up with derogatory words because they can't think of anything else to say. There is NO need for "Look you idiots". If i did not know anybetter and i don't but you appear to be 12 years old.
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Ace of Spades
August 26, 2009 at 7:44pm
I live in Delaware and I can't belive we have the fastest internet speed average in the country! Woot, woot! And when I saw Puerto Rico in dead last, I already knew it because their Internet sucks alot (I;m from Puerto Rico). Shoot, Dail-up over here is faster than their high speed Internet. It takes forever just to download something simple as a 3mb PDF file or a document from your email.
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Geeksquadmyss
August 26, 2009 at 7:23pm
First off YOUR MAXIMUM PC AND YOU HAVE MAC ADS....WTF!
But anyway i live in mass. and have a 20mps connection? so how is it ranked low? most of the people i know have that speed, of course we all play PC games and download a lot so there you i guess mystery solved.
The real problem here is infrastructure, or lack of, and there is no reason for these companies to fix the problem because theres no demand or at least not enough at the moment.
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vistageek
August 26, 2009 at 6:03pm
"But, at any rate, we’re still quite behind our Asian friends." ... WAIT, what new? JK
Anyway, I live in Oregon and i get 10mbps for $35 a month.
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quickone
August 27, 2009 at 5:05am
$35 a month!?!?!!! I'm paying $68 a month for a 6mbps connection and have hit 1Mbs ONCE when I was torrenting OpenOffice, other than that is is 500Kbs on average.
I knew I was getting screwed, didn't realize everyone else was getting KY though
PS, I love the Mac ads (WTF?)
~~The difference between insanity and genius is merely succes~~
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1337Goose
August 26, 2009 at 5:40pm
I don't know where Canada falls on these charts, but here's what we're getting up North.
A 10 megabit connection costs about $47.00 to $60.00 CAD per month. However, it is a rock solid 10 megabit connection, I've never had it dip below the promised amount. Also, the infrastructure is really good. I can pop my head out the window and see where the fiber optics terminate.
My only complaint is the bandwidth caps. All my buddies in the States were complaining about their 350GB/month "caps". I have a 60GB/month cap; I've never run it up before, but I've come pretty close.
I think larger countries like Canada and the USA have a harder time mobilizing and providing strong internet access from sea to sea, whereas smaller countries like Korea and Japan have a less daunting task.
~Goose
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DOOMHAMMA
August 26, 2009 at 5:31pm
Verizon FiOS. I have to sit and watch their stupid commercials saying, "Demand FiOS!" I do, and I never get it. I live in NJ, have had Verizon DSL, moved two miles, and saw my speeds drop. Bah. I'd still pay for FiOS if they would make it available.
Comcast is the devil ;)
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Narteck
August 26, 2009 at 4:22pm
I live in oregon and have been very happy with Comcast. I pay for their 22 Mbps service and always get at least 23 Mpbs. I can go to sites like fileplanet and download file from them and max out my bandwitdh. Thats great. I can even stream movie from Netflixs at 22 Mbps. I thnk Comcast does need work in some areas.
I find this study to be a load of crap. In Oregon alone comcast offers speeds up to 50 Mbps and even in washington I know they offer the same. Hell my father has the 50 Mbps service for his work.
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510Gamer
August 26, 2009 at 4:54pm
It's what you call an average....
I have Comcast in Cali and like someone else said i rarely break the 2MB barrier, only time i actually did so when i was downloading Windows 7....
I can't really complain much about Comcast though, as the only other real alternative is DSL and im not going back there again....Service isn't that bad, but for some reason here in the Bay they seem to have occasional problems with the entire areas connection....
Comcast is kinda like Windows in a sense, well before Windows 7. Now one really likes them but theres not many good alternatives....
-510
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noobstix
August 26, 2009 at 3:52pm
The only time I would get anything over 10Mbps is when I'm running a speed test. Other than that, I've only cracked the 1.0Mbps barrier. Also, I've just about lost track of how many calls I've made down there about my connection crappin' out in these past few years (our router has outlasted the modem). I've been tempted to going to DSL but then I realize that I'll probably get 56k speeds anyways.
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DBsantos77
August 26, 2009 at 4:13pm
Not if you live close to the CO and have good lines in your house. I have Qwest and I get 7 Mbit at aaaaaall times. :)
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quickone
August 26, 2009 at 3:16pm
Here in Ann Arbor Michigan (Go BLUE!!) the ONLY option is comcast, I even tried to do DSL through ATT but it was not an option. What is my $68 a month for JUST internet going to? Not reinventment in their network, someone is walking around with $66 in their pocket through that deal. There is no competition, they don't have to invest in their network because nothing will change if they do, comcast blows too, why couldn't I have gotten stuck with someone good?
~~The difference between insanity and genius is merely succes~~
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jcollins
August 26, 2009 at 3:10pm
So a company that promotes high speed internet does a survey showing that the US is behind in high speed internet access? Really?
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pratt
August 26, 2009 at 2:49pm
One of the biggest problems with high speed for me in California is reliablity. Comcast is an absolute dog. Throttling of your internet speed aside, their reliablity is pitiful and their customer service stinks. What is really bad is they have absolutely no competition where I live. The only alternative is AT&T DSL and they are essentially half as fast for five dollars less. But then again, considering Comcast is so bad, I'd almost rather go to AT&T. The bad deal is a friend of mine does have AT&T and he has trouble with them all the time to so it's a no-win.
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horzo
August 26, 2009 at 3:14pm
I've had Comcast for 2+ years now, and have zero complaints. My old DSL modem seemed to require a reboot every couple of weeks. Comcast... maybe once every 4-5 months.
No, I don't actually like Comcast as a company, but for the price it's impossible to beat the 10-13Mb (downstream) I'm getting. Reports of torrent throttling and bandwidth caps concern me, but so far I haven't seen any evidence of this.
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pratt
August 26, 2009 at 8:29pm
It is completely dependant on where you live and the density of population in the area. To put it into perspective, in the Bay Area, Comcast is trying to push the Niagra Falls through the Panama Canal, the network just isn't voluminous enough to handle the capacity of users accessing it.
That and they pick absolute shit times to work on the network and I lose connection at random hours of the day.
You have no idea how many times Comcast has been to every single house up and down my street to "fix" problems.
I'm paying for a 10 mb/s line and I rarely hit 1 mb/s downloads. I'll hit 1.8 mb/s if I'm lucky at 1 in the morning but then I get throttled down to about 750 kb/s and lower. It really is very bad.
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dag1992
August 26, 2009 at 2:01pm
Here in Virginia we're probably only 7th because of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads where FiOS and faster cable is available where much of our population comes from.
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thefuzz4
August 26, 2009 at 2:00pm
Ok so I've lived in Wyoming the last 4 years and I've had Bresnan for the last 3. I've had 15Mbps download speeds for the last 3 years which I thought was screaming. I've downloaded some things at a rate of 3.0MB per second.
And now I am moving to Colorado and I had to sign up for comcast and btw Colorado is not even on the list which I found suprising because Colorado has had faster speeds than Wyoming. Anyways comcast starting this week in the Denver metro area just upped the 16Mb plan to 22Mb and you can even go all the way up to 50Mb if need be. Thank god for comcast adapting to Docsis 3.0. Although we are a larger country and yes it does take longer to get faster speeds out to those of us that have lived or do live in rural areas I think that we will catch up with the rest of the world one of these days but for now I'm pretty happy with where we are at. Remember 10 years ago when you would die for a ISDN line to your house?














