For those of us who live and work in the Washington, D.C. area, we don’t have to look far when looking for regions with the fastest average internet speeds. According to the latest Akamai State of the Internet Report covering the fourth quarter of 2016, Washington, D.C. takes the trophy for the fastest average internet connection speed in the country, at 26.7 Mbps.
D.C.’s average internet speed not only tops the FCC's broadband threshold of 25 Mbps -- the first time it's ever happened -- but it also slightly beat out South Korea's connectivity speed of 26.1 Mbps. While South Korea currently leads all countries with the fastest average connection speeds, we’ve highlighted on several occasions why it’s more relevant to compare U.S. regions (like D.C.) with small, dense countries like South Korea.
Interestingly, South Korea experienced a 2.4 percent yearly loss in average connection speeds, while the U.S. experienced 21 percent yearly growth. The U.S. currently leads the Western Hemisphere in terms of average connection speeds, at 17.2 Mbps. With advancements in broadband connectivity and ISP gigabit projects already in the pipeline all over the U.S., we can only expect this progress to continue.
