Faster internet is a common desire of just about every regular internet user in the United States. After all, even though one gigabit speeds are common throughout the world, they are less so for commercial U.S. residents. However, thanks to the efforts of Google Fiber in recent years, average internet speeds in the country have been slowly rising.
Although the U.S. is a long way off from gigabit connectivity in every home, a new report from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) shows that broadband connectivity is much more common, at the very least. In particular, the report states that Connecticut has the second highest internet download speeds in the country.
The FCC defines broadband internet speeds as 25 Mbps or higher.
“Broadband is a natural asset for our state and something I look forward to promoting through policies that encourage continued private sector investment and job growth that further separate Connecticut from the pack in the global economy,” State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) told TheHour.com. “As we begin 2016, the state of our competitive broadband advantage remains strong for our residents, businesses and economy.”
The FCC report states that Connecticut had an average download speed of 46.94 Mbps, based on cumulative performance of all internet service providers (ISPs) and technologies in the state in 2013 and 2014. This average speed followed closely behind New Jersey, which held an average download speed of 57.03 Mbps in the same period.
According to Jeff Eydt of TheHour.com, a similar report from content delivery network and cloud service provider Akamai (News - Alert) Technologies released last year also put Connecticut in second place in terms of average download speeds during the third quarter of 2014. However, the report found Connecticut lagging behind Delaware rather than New Jersey during the report’s covered period.
Regardless, it’s clear that Connecticut’s broadband scene is healthy, to say the least.