Internet service providers are continuing to deliver the speeds they advertise, as consumers migrate to faster speeds, a USENET reports.
The Federal Communications Commission has released its third “Measuring Broadband America” report and finds that Internet service providers (ISPs), on average, delivered 97% of advertised download speeds during peak hours (7 p.m.-10 p.m. local time). That’s about the same speed the FCC found in its previous report from July 2012 – and much better than the agency’s finding of 87% for download speeds in its initial April 2012 report. ISPs delivered 108% of advertised upload speeds, up slightly from 107% in July 2012.
The study included cable, DSL, fiber optics and satellite services. It covered 14 ISPs, which serve about 8-percent of homes and monitored 6,700 volunteer homes throughout September. Satellite did best, averaging 137 percent of its advertised speed (though it is more prone to be affected by latency, or the time delay in which the request message travels to the satellite and back). Fiber delivered at 116 percent, cable at 99 percent and DSL improved 1 percent to 85.
The report on the USENET newsgroup cited industry-funded group Internet Innovation Alliance which says that the report shows that the broadband market is “highly competitive” and that market forces are “driving private investment that is rapidly upgrading America’s network infrastructure.
But the United States ranks at only 13th in the world when it comes to average Internet speed, clocking in at 5.8Mbps. Runner-ups Japan and Hong Kong average 9.1 while South Korea sits at a very distant first with 17.5Mbps. South Korea is a small country with areas of incredibly dense population, especially in cities such as Seoul; ISPs compete fiercely in the same arena, only gaining ground by improving service for less expense.
In contrast, companies in the United States have less incentive to perform on the same level: regions tend to be dominated by one or two ISP giants and manage to avoid competition that could drive prices down.
