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The internet is getting faster — but how fast depends on where you live

Internet speed in the U.S. ranks 10th, far behind No. 1 South Korea.

Rani Molla is a senior correspondent at Vox and has been focusing her reporting on the future of work. She has covered business and technology for more than a decade — often in charts — including at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

Good news for anyone reading this site: Internet speeds are getting faster.

Globally, fixed internet connection speeds averaged 7.2 megabits per second this quarter, up 2.3 percent from last quarter and up 15 percent compared with a year ago, according to content delivery network Akamai’s newest State of the Internet Report.

The U.S. entered the list of top 10 countries with the fastest average fixed internet speeds this quarter. Its 18.7 Mbps speeds are up 22 percent year over year, thanks in part to internet service provider upgrades. South Korea, with average internet speeds of 28.6 Mbps, has the fastest internet of any of the countries Akamai measures.

Within the U.S., Washington, D.C. has the fastest average internet connectivity at 28.1 Mbps. The fastest state is Delaware at 25 Mbps, while the slowest is Idaho at 12 Mbps. The Federal Communications Commission considers download speeds of 25 Mbps or higher to be broadband.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.