The average U.S. broadband connection speed was nearly 10 Mbps (9.8 Mbps) in the third quarter of 2013, according to the latest Akamai State of the Internet Report. That’s an increase of 13 percent over the previous quarter when the average connection speed was 8.6 Mbps and a 31 percent increase over the same period a year earlier.
The percentage of U.S. broadband users connecting at average speeds exceeding 10 Mbps saw even greater increases, rising to 34 percent — a 40 percent increase over the previous quarter and an 82 percent increase over the third quarter of 2012.
In several states more than half of broadband users connected at speeds above 10 Mbps during the report period. Topping the list were Massachusetts and New Jersey, both of which saw 54 percent of broadband users connecting at average speeds above 10 Mbps. Following them were Rhode Island and Maryland where 53 percent and 51 percent of Internet users, respectively, saw average connection speeds above 10 Mbps.
The top 10 states measured by the percentage of people connecting at speeds above 10 Mbps were all in the eastern U.S. and also included Delaware, New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.
When measured by average connection speed, eight of the top 10 states — including the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New Jersey — were in the east. All of those states had average connection speeds between 11.7 Mbps and 13.5 Mbps. States number nine and 10 were Utah and Washington, which had average connections speeds of 11.6 Mbps and 11.4 Mbps, respectively.
