More and more U.S. broadband users are adopting higher speed connections, according to the latest Akamai State of the Internet report, released today and based on data from the fourth quarter of 2015. In particular, researchers found large increases in adoption of speeds that are 15 Mbps and higher.
Eleven states saw 15 Mbps+ adoption rates at least double over the same period a year earlier, including Hawaii which led the nation with a 223% increase. Another 35 states saw 15 Mbps+ adoption rates increase by at least 50%.
The state that saw the lowest increase in 15 Mbps+ broadband adoption – Oregon – experienced a still substantial 41% increase.
Nationwide the adoption rate for 15 Mbps or higher service is 32%, or roughly one-third, Akamai said – up 73% from the previous year.
15 Mbps Broadband Adoption: Good News for (Some) Carriers
It’s not surprising that people are adopting higher-speed connections, considering the huge growth in consumption of bandwidth-heavy streaming media. And the growth in higher-speed connections should be good news for network operators – provided that they have upgraded their networks to support higher-speed connections.
Frontier, for example, has seen strong broadband revenue growth, in no small part because people in 57% of its service area can get service at speeds of 20 Mbps or higher.
U.S. Average Peak Connection Speed
Other highlights of the latest Akamai State of the Internet report:
- The U.S. average peak connection speed was 61.5 Mbps for fourth quarter 2015 and the average connection speed was 14.2 Mbps.
- Delaware had the highest peak connection speed (88.3 Mbps). The District of Columbia had the highest average connection speed, at 21.3 Mbps.
- Eight of the 10 states with the highest average peak connection speeds were in the densely-populated East – including the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York, as well as Delaware. The only non-eastern states in the top 10 were Utah and Washington. All states in the top 10 had average peak connection speeds of at least 72.7 Mbps.
- Eight of the 10 states with the highest average connection speeds were also in the East – including Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and New York, as well as the District of Columbia. Here, too, the only non-eastern states in the top 10 were Utah and Washington. All states in the top 10 had average connection speeds of at least 16.7 Mbps.
Image courtesy of flickr user Sean MacEntee.
