While my colleague Mark Wilson endures glacially slow internet, I’m lucky enough to be on a super-fast 100Mbps connection (but even that’s a bit slow for me -- I’ll be upgrading to 152 Mbps early next year).
The average connection speeds for most internet users is a lot slower, but getting better. Broadview Networks took a look at the average internet speeds in America, and listed the results by state, showing average speed in Q1, and comparing the results quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.
The company used Akamai’s "State of the Internet" Report to work out the figures for each state and then plotted the results on a map. Dark green states have the fastest speeds and those in red have the slowest. According to Broadview Networks’ findings, Virginia has the fastest internet service in the country (13.7Mbps on average ) while the residents of Alaska have the slowest (7Mbps on average).
The Northeast has some of the fastest speeds in the nation, while the Midwest and less populated states have generally slower speeds.
The full list of results is below. How does your internet speed compare?
| State by State Breakdown | |||
| State | Q1 '14 Avg Mbps | QoQ Change % (Q1 '14 vs. Q4 '13) | YoY Change % (Q1 '14 vs. Q1 '13) |
| Virginia | 13.7 | -4.3 | 30 |
| Delaware | 13.1 | 6.3 | 18 |
| Massachusetts | 13.1 | 2.6 | 22 |
| Rhode Island | 12.9 | 11 | 35 |
| D.C. | 12.8 | 5 | 18 |
| Washington | 12.5 | 8.5 | 29 |
| New Hampshire | 12.3 | 4 | 6 |
| Utah | 12.1 | 6 | 17 |
| Michigan | 11.8 | 13 | 42 |
| Connecticut | 11.7 | 7.2 | 18 |
| North Dakota | 11.7 | 14 | 27 |
| Oregon | 11.7 | 5.2 | 36 |
| Wisconsin | 11.5 | 9.2 | 45 |
| New York | 11.5 | 3.5 | 18 |
| Maryland | 11.3 | 3.7 | 58 |
| Pennsylvania | 11.3 | 6.3 | 23 |
| Ohio | 11.2 | 40 | 19 |
| New Jersey | 11.2 | 2 | 26 |
| Minnesota | 11.1 | 8.8 | 38 |
| California | 10.9 | 4.1 | 27 |
| South Dakota | 10.8 | 12 | 31 |
| Georgia | 10.7 | 21 | 57 |
| Indiana | 10.7 | 7.4 | 32 |
| Vermont | 10.2 | 5.7 | -17 |
| Nevada | 10.1 | 16 | 40 |
| Florida | 10.1 | 4.4 | 36 |
| Tennessee | 9.9 | 7.4 | 30 |
| Colorado | 9.7 | 5.9 | 28 |
| South Carolina | 9.7 | 5.3 | 21 |
| North Carolina | 9.7 | 4.8 | 15 |
| Nebraska | 9.5 | 10 | 43 |
| Texas | 9.4 | 6.3 | 29 |
| Illinois | 9.2 | 5.7 | 21 |
| Alabama | 8.9 | 10 | 39 |
| Oklahoma | 8.9 | 8.1 | 30 |
| Iowa | 8.8 | 4.9 | 33 |
| Maine | 8.7 | 7.8 | 20 |
| Arizona | 8.7 | 1.1 | 30 |
| Kansas | 8.6 | 7.2 | 91 |
| Hawaii | 8.4 | 3.6 | 31 |
| Wyoming | 8 | 8.3 | 23 |
| Idaho | 7.7 | 9.5 | 60 |
| Louisiana | 7.7 | -1.9 | 38 |
| Missouri | 7.7 | 7.6 | 26 |
| New Mexico | 7.6 | 1.9 | 22 |
| Mississippi | 7.6 | 7.3 | 34 |
| West Virginia | 7.5 | 6.1 | 29 |
| Montana | 7.3 | 9.1 | 25 |
| Kentucky | 7.3 | 5.8 | 23 |
| Arkansas | 7.3 | 8.4 | 69 |
| Alaska | 7 | 7.8 | 33 |