Internet Speeds Are Getting Faster In The U.S.

Megalith

Megalith

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A new report from Speedtest.com has found that internet speeds have increased by 40% since last year. Leading the way are cities such as Austin, Phoenix, Seattle, and San Francisco. Mobile internet performance has also increased by 30%.

Fixed broadband customers have seen the biggest jump in performance with download speeds achieving an average of over 50 Mbps for the first time ever. This improvement is more than a 40% increase since July 2015. Overall, the fixed broadband industry has seen consolidation, speed upgrades and, thankfully, growth in fiber optic deployments from upstarts like Google Fiber to industry titans like XFINITY and AT&T to other regional internet service providers. Mobile internet customers have also seen performance gains, improving by more than 30% since last year with an average download speed of 19.27 Mbps in the first six months of 2016.
 
Cox bumped the connection I share with a neighbor 50% earlier this year from 100 to 150 Mbps (doesn't really matter to me as I use Wi-Fi to access the router and it's around 80-85Mbps which is fast enough for me, the neighbor is hardlined into it of course since it's his service technically) - what Cox didn't do was bump the actual bandwidth allocation (just the throughput) over the 700GB it's been for quite some time. Usually there's a bump in the bandwidth allocation to coincide with it, like in our case and anyone else using the Premiere plan it should have gone from the 700GB to basically 1TB even but they didn't do that.

So it works, yes, but that extra bandwidth allocation sure wouldn't hurt (not that Cox gives a shit unlike so many other ISPs - we've gone over it a few times since the throughput increase but haven't even gotten an email notice about the overage so it's a non-issue).
 
People with DSL OR satellite are not going to be using Speedtest, someone who just got a 12 month promo speed boost to 100Mbps is going to test quite a bit, someone who got Google fiber might write a script to autoload speedtest when the computer is on just to verify the length of their ePeniz. Not to say the speed hasnt gone up, just saying the averge is 50 Mbps might be a little deceptive, after all 1 google fiber user basically cancels out like 20 dsl users to get that average
 
sfsuphysics said:
People with DSL OR satellite are not going to be using Speedtest, someone who just got a 12 month promo speed boost to 100Mbps is going to test quite a bit.
Click to expand...

Speed averages generally are done by CDNs such as akamai.
 
My internet provider (Armstrong Cable) boosted the speeds so I'd hit their bandwidth limits faster. They cash in on my family of 6 for a good $10 to $30 extra each month. And unfortunately there are zero alternatives for me where I live.
 
TAP said:
My internet provider (Armstrong Cable) boosted the speeds so I'd hit their bandwidth limits faster. They cash in on my family of 6 for a good $10 to $30 extra each month. And unfortunately there are zero alternatives for me where I live.
Click to expand...
Sounds more like strong arm cable.
 
I think what we really need is to outlaw government sponsored monopolies and to deregulate the telecommunications industry just as we have with electricity in Texas. Electricity is dirt cheap here, because it doesn't matter who actually runs power to your neighborhood, you can purchase electricity from any producer on the grid. Likewise, there's no risk to any big power company running electricity out to you, since they are reimbursed at cost.

If we had something similar where any company could run fiber to a community and worst case scenario only be reimbursed at cost, it would minimize their risk and fiber would spread like mad. But competition would drive internet prices down, since you could go with absolutely any ISP of your choosing, giving everyone dozens of options rather than just one or two.

As it is right now, if you want ten different choices of fiber, then you have to have ten companies lay fiber to your home with only one of them actually getting the business... and that's a crappy setup.
 
This often without any improvement in the infrastructure. The higher speeds were always available IF you paid extra. What changed was that in some areas, there were two or more providers, who keep vying for the same customers. So each gradually ratchets up the speeds advertised trying to steal customers from the other. Competition is the only way that service will improve. Otherwise you'll just have the one old, copper wire hanging on rotting poles that's been there since A.G. Bell's time.
 
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