More pointedly, a new “Speed Matters” study conducted by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has revealed that Internet speeds in the U.S. leave the country trailing badly in the overall international standings.
Results from the study, which covered some 230,000 domestic Internet users, also showed that the U.S. has managed to add only a paltry four-tenths of one megabit per second to its median speed performance over the last 12 months.
According to the CWA, with current improvement limited to such an obvious snail’s pace “it will take the U.S. more than one hundred years to catch up with current Internet speeds in Japan.”
In terms of real-time downloads, the study offered that the median connection speed in the U.S. is a lowly 2.3 megabits per second (Mbps), while estimates relevant to Japan suggest that average connection speeds are a whopping 63Mbps.
And it’s not as though Japan is the exception to an otherwise underperforming rule. Following close behind it on the performance list is South Korea with connection speeds of 49Mbps while France maintains a healthy advantage over the U.S. despite a drop off to 17Mbps.
In terms of translating those performance figures into actual download expectations, the CWA notes that an identical multimedia file downloaded in South Korea and the U.S. would require only four minutes of download time in South Korea, while a user in the U.S. would be facing a hefty wait of around 90 minutes.
“Speed matters to our economy and our ability to remain competitive in a global marketplace,” explained Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America. “Rural development, telemedicine and distance learning all rely on truly high-speed, universal networks.”
The Speed Matters project was launched in the latter half of 2006 with a view to keeping the U.S. running strong on the competitive bell curve of evolving communications technology.
By amassing such compelling data, the CWA hopes to encourage the U.S. Government into passing a policy (the Broadband Data Improvement Act) that will elevate the country alongside the true world leaders in telecommunications.
“We are the only industrialized nation without a national policy to promote universal, high-speed Internet access -- and it shows,” added Cohen.
According to the CWA, the already “dismal statistics” are best viewed through rose-tinted glasses due to the fact that, while most of the 230,000 participants were logged on through DSL, cable modem or fibre, those still using dial-up connections didn’t even take the test as it would have taken far too long.
It is believed that around 15 percent of Americans still rely on dial-up for their Internet access.
In terms of performance relative to individual states, Rhode Island offers the fastest connection speed with 6.8Mbps, closely followed by Delaware with 6.7Mbps, New Jersey with 5.8Mbps, Virginia with 5.0Mbps, and Massachusetts with 4.6Mbps.
The worst five performers are Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, which are all stuck on 1.3Mbps, while North Dakota can only muster 1.2Mbps and Alaska props up the list with a mere 0.8Mbps.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Stevie Smith
Quelle/Source: The Tech Herald, 14.08.2008
