14 DAY TRIAL // Internet speeds are increasing. You don't need any type of analysis to know that. But if you want to know by how much and how real-world internet speeds are faring, Akamai's State of the Internet report is a good place to start.
The CDN is in a unique position to know just how fast the internet is around the world, it has data centers around the world and it sees huge volumes of traffic through its infrastructure.
The latest report, for the second quarter, shows some interesting trends. While speeds, overall, are better than last year in the same period, many of the top countries saw a decrease from speeds measured in the first quarter of 2012.
In fact, it was the fastest country that saw the biggest dip, South Korea saw a 9.8 percent decline in internet connection speeds from the first part of the year.
That wasn't enough for it to lose its place though, the country still has the fastest internet on the planet with a 14.2 Mbps average connection speed, 2.9 percent more than in Q2 2011.
In terms of average peak speeds, the speeds that internet users can expect to reach when their connection is working at its best, the picture is a little different.
Hong Kong takes the crown here, with 49.2 Mbps, followed closely by South Korea with 46.9 Mbps. Peak speeds grew by 31 percent in South Korea in the last year, so it may be taking the top spot soon.
But South Korea returns to the top position in the "high" broadband chart, where Akamai only looks at connections above 10 Mbps. Here, South Korea boasts that 40 percent of its internet users have more than 10 Mbps, a 49 percent increase from last year in the same period.
