Average Home Internet Speed Increasing, Now Over 50 Mbps for First Time

Internet in the United States has gotten faster. Fixed broadband customers are now achieving an average of over 50 Mbps for the first time ever.

This improvement is more than a 40% increase since July 2015, according to data from Speedtest. Overall, the fixed broadband industry has seen consolidation, speed upgrades and growth in fiber optic deployments.

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Mobile internet customers have also seen performance gains, improving by more than 30% since last year with an average download speed of 19 Mbps in the first six months of 2016. The four major mobile carriers—Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint—are in a tight race for fastest download speeds, Speedtest says.

The top-tier services are getting higher end as well. During the first half of 2016, U.S. broadband top 10% download performance increased from 99 Mbps to 118 Mbps. XFINITY took fastest ISP in the U.S. with a top-tier download speed of 125 Mbps.

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The U.S. still lags from an international perspective, however, currently ranking 20th in fixed broadband and 42nd in mobile internet performance globally.

“If you’re an optimist, you’ll see an annual 40% increase in fixed broadband performance and a 30% increase in mobile internet performance as a big step in the right direction,” says Speedtest. “For the skeptics among us, you’ll recognize that current speeds in the U.S. are still much slower than what many other countries receive.”

Note: We have temporarily removed the Canadian data. This article will be updated when the data is verified by Speedtest.