US broadband speeds up 28%

A new report shows the average internet connection speed in the US is up by 28 percent from last year.

Akamai’s "State of the Internet" report chronicles the global growth of broadband connections, and this year provides additional data on DDoS attacks.

The average connection speed in America is now 7.4 Mbps: a growth of 2.3 percent from last quarter, and 28 percent year-on-year.

This ranks the US at number 8, with South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong at first, second, and third respectively.

Latvia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Sweden, and Finland round out the top ten.

The US is also ranked eighth by percentage of users with a connection of above 10 Mbps at 19 percent, a quarterly growth of 5.5 percent and a staggering 90 percent jump from last year.

This suggests growth has slowed a good bit during the year, but even so the country has made positive strides in its digital infrastructure.

Studies such as this could prove important in understanding the debate around "always-on" requirements from games companies.

Those interested in having a look at the data themselves can find the full report here.