A new report has revealed the fastest internet speeds across the country – and tens of millions of Americans might want to consider switching.
Spectrum ranks top of the list, with the average customer enjoying a whopping 235 megabits per second (Mbps).
Followed by Xfinity, which boasts 233Mbps and Cox, with 219Mpbs.
Many may be surprised that the most popular internet service providers – Verizon and AT&T – ranked the slowest with just 186Mbps and 180Mbps.
Spectrum, owned by Charter Communications, topped the list as the fastest internet in the US, while AT&T ranked the slowest – even though it is among the most popular service
Even if you have one of the top-performing providers, it is not definite you will get those speeds.
Internet speeds fluctuate when traffic is at its peak, data caps are unleased, or connections are throttled to maintain network performance.
This could be more likely in cities with higher populations running on the same providers, such as New York and New Jersey, primarily using Verizon.
New York has more than eight million residents and New Jersey has over nine million.
The report was conducted by internet speed-test company Ookla, which publishes quarterly data on internet service providers.
Ookla speed uses a client and server testing engine that dynamically scales the number of connections to the server in order to saturate and accurately measure client-side connections up to 10 Gbps.
And the latest findings are from the first quarter of this year.
The firm found that Spectrum took the lead with a median download speed of 235 megabits per second (Mbps).
Bits are tiny units of data, with a megabit representing a million of them.
Spectrum, owned by Charter Communications, reports to have more than 32 million customers across 41 states.
Its basic package starts at $49 a month.
Xfinity, which reported 32.1 million customers at the end of 2022, came in second this quarter after sitting at the top in the previous one. The regular rate for this service starts at $77.00.
Comcast’s internet service was reported to have 233Mbps.
Cox, $49 a month, clocked in with 219Mbps, followed by the $49 Optimum with 196Mbps and 190Mbps for Frontier, which also starts at $49 monthly.
In March, Verizon and AT&T were listed as the most popular services among Americans, but these companies failed to produce speeds in the recent test.
Verizon’s Fios, $44.99 a month, has a median download speed of 186Mbps and AT&T’s is 180Mbps, with packages starting at $55 a month.
The FCC released a report in 2019 that shows 24.7 million Americans do not have access to broadband, but Microsoft’s data shows that number is much higher
Even if you have one of the top-performing providers, it is not definite you will get those speeds. Internet speeds fluctuate when traffic is at its peak
While the report shows average speeds, Ookla notes that not everyone with a specific service provider has the same internet speed.
The company found that Americans get an average 198Mbps of download speed and 22 Mbps of upload speed, ranking it ninth in the world.
Singapore was listed as having the fastest median internet speeds in the world, with 237 Mbps, followed by China at 226 Mbps.
And the reason the US has the slowest speeds comes down to a lack of competition.
Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School, told The New York Times: ‘It’s just very simple economics.
‘The average market has one or two serious Internet providers, and they set their prices at monopoly or duopoly pricing.’
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler agrees with Wu.
‘The majority of Americans have a choice of only two providers,’ Wheeler penned in an open letter.
‘That is what economists call a ‘duopoly,’ a marketplace that is typically characterized by less than vibrant competition.
‘Stop and let that sink in: Three-quarters of American homes have no competitive choice for the essential infrastructure for 21st-century economics and democracy.’
The FCC released data in 2019 showing 24.7 million Americans do not have access to broadband, but Microsoft’s analysis showed that number is much higher – 168.2 million.
Regardless, people in the US not having access has been an ongoing issue.
‘One possible explanation for this shift could be the changing demographics of offline households as the online population continues to increase,’ the National Telecommunications and Information Administration shared in a statement.
‘Another possibility is that bandwidth needs and expectations for what might qualify as acceptable high-speed Internet service have changed over time.’
