U.S. Slips In Broadband Speed
U.S. cities continue to fare poorly in broadband speeds compared to many cities in Asia, according to Akamai Technologies first quarter 2010 State of the Internet report.Released Tuesday, the report found that Masan, South Korea, captured the top worldwide spot. The Cambridge, Mass., firm didn't break out Masan's actual figures, but it found that the average maximum connection speed in South Korea was an impressive 33 Mbps. Hong Kong and Japan placed second and third, respectively in Akamai's compilation.
The average U.S. connection was 4.7 Mbps. Alaska had the lowest average connection speed with 2.7 Mbps. Individual U.S. cities, however, captured 12 spots in the top 100 and 7 of the 12 were in California.
In the United States, broadband speeds are becoming an issue in the National Broadband Plan, because the Federal Communications Commission is alarmed that the country is dropping behind so many other nations in broadband speeds and access.