Download speed exceed 50 Mbps in the US

Speedtest has released it most recent research into download and upload speeds across the US which claims the industry is heading in the right direction.

The typical US consumer saw download speeds top 50 Mbps for the first time, reaching 54.97 Mbps during June. Upload speeds were considerably lower at 18.88 Mbps during June, though this is less of a concern for the industry, or in fact the US government, as most consumers would define their experience on download speed.

“This laudable milestone is a 42% increase in download speed year-over-year,” the company said. “While this average speed is more than sufficient for typical activities like browsing the web and streaming video content, 50 Mbps is a small fraction of the speed offered from gigabit fibre optic internet.”

It would be worth noting that while this is an impressive milestone for the states, there is a still a high level of variance throughout the country. The FCC recently released a report which highlighted 34 million or 10% of Americans currently lack access to 25 Mbps service, though this percentage increases to 39% when only looking at rural populations. Increasing connectivity has been a promise which has been banded around the states for years, and while there has been progress, it would not seem to compare to the political promises which have been made.

With an election just around the corner, the debate on how to connect America will likely be brought up again, especially considering the impact the internet has been having on popular debate in recent months. To date, Trump has been relatively quiet on rural connectivity, though this was an area which attracted attention during Clinton’s technology promises.

While it could be seen as a political soundbite by more sceptical commentators, only yesterday the White House announced it will be investing in the development and commercialization of unmanned aircraft systems. This could have an impact on the connectivity challenges in rural areas, as it has already been touted as a use case by technology leaders such as Google and Facebook.