The average U.S. peak broadband speed was 70.8 Mbps in the third quarter of 2016 – an increase of 23% over the same period a year earlier, according to the latest Akamai “State of the Internet” report, released today.
The average peak connection speed is Akamai’s closest approximation to the actual speeds that end users’ connections can support. In comparison, overall average connection speed was considerably lower – measuring 16.3 Mbps for third quarter, a 30% increase over third quarter of 2015.
Nearly 90% (88%) of Americans have service supporting speeds of at least 4 Mbps, including 61% who can connect at speeds of at least 10 Mbps and 39% who can connect at speeds of at least 15 Mbps, Akamai said.
Average U.S. Peak Broadband Speed
Average U.S. peak broadband speed varied considerably by state, according to the Akamai State of the Internet report for the third quarter of 2016.
Maryland had the highest average peak broadband speed, which measured 90.6 Mbps, Akamai said. The seven next highest states were also in the eastern U.S. and all had average peak speeds of at least 81.7 Mbps. Those seven were Massachusetts, the District of Columbia (which Akamai counts as a state), Virginia, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York.
The only non-eastern states on the top 10 list measured by average peak speed were Washington and Utah, which were numbers nine and 10, respectively. Washington’s average peak speed was 81 Mbps and Utah’s was 79 Mbps. Among the top 10 states, Maryland saw the biggest increase over last year’s report for the same quarter, jumping 24%.
The 10 states with the highest percentage of Internet connections supporting speeds of at least 4 Mbps also were primarily in the east. Delaware topped the list at 98%, followed by Rhode Island, New Jersey, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Maryland, Florida and the District of Columbia. At least 91% of Internet users in all states in the top 10 had connections supporting speeds of at least 4 Mbps.
