Akamai: U.S. Average Peak Broadband Speed is Nearly 50 Mbps

The U.S. average peak broadband speed in the fourth quarter of 2014 was 49.4 Mbps according to the latest Akamai State of the Internet report. The U.S. average connection speed was 11.1 Mbps for that period, Akamai said.

While average connection speed measures the average amount of data flowing over a broadband connection, the average peak connection speed is a closer approximation of the capacity of a user’s connection. The numbers suggest that a considerable portion of users are subscribing to higher-speed data tiers where they are available.

The average peak connection speed was up 16% over the same period a year earlier, and the average connection speed was up 15% over the same period.

State by State
Traditionally densely populated eastern states have dominated broadband speed rankings. But that is beginning to change. Six U.S. states and the District of Columbia had peak connection speeds exceeding 60 Mbps in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Akamai. Four of the states – Delaware, Virginia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island – were in the east. But two – North Dakota and Utah – were not.

The appearance of North Dakota on the top ten list shouldn’t come as a surprise to Telecompetitor readers, as we reported earlier this year that North Dakota was the state with the highest percentage of people capable of getting fiber-to-the-home service thanks to a spate of build-outs by the small rural telcos that serve a large part of the state.

Delaware has the highest average peak connection speeds – 75.4 Mbps.

When ranked by average connection speed, Virginia – measured at 17.7 Mbps — came in at the top. Five other states – Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington — and the District of Columbia had average connection speeds exceeding 13 Mbps.

On mobile networks, the average peak connection speed in the U.S. was 14.3 Mbps and the average connection speed was 3.2 Mbps.