In a recent report released by Speed Matters, Japan topped the list of countries with the highest median internet download speeds at 61 megabits per second. The United States fell far behind with only 1.9 megabits per second:
Between September 2006 to May 2007, nearly 80,000 people in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (nearly all of them with broadband connections) have gone to the Speedmatters.org site to take an Internet speed test and measure how fast their computers can upload and download data. This is the first national survey of actual Internet speeds, and the results showed just how the US continues to lag behind other countries.
The chart below shows Japan’s internet speed is about 30 times faster than the US, with a few other countries in between:
South Korea: 45Mbps, Finland: 21Mbps, Sweden 18Mbps, Canada 7.6Mbps
You can download the full report in PDF format here. The report does not show results from the Philippines but basing form our recent discussion on the state of DSL in the country, I guess it’s way down there in the charts.
I checked with DSLReports and there’s some data there of 28 independent test for PLDT shows an average 706 Kbps download and 235 Kbps upload speeds.
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I wonder what they do with all that speed.
Sa Google Trends, hindi naman yata type ng Japan ang YouTube.
games and porn
I’ve heard that those kinds of speed is really pretty normal in Japan as my friend mentioned in his blog. When I went to Japan, I tried measuring the broadband speed I got from my apartment and I got a really low 10 Mbps (read my post about it.) But 10 Mbps is already a luxury here in the Philippines.
All the countries on top have the majority of their population concentrated in relatively small areas of the country. Comparing it to the US where the population is spread throughout and with a much larger landmass is a pretty stupid comparison. I personally get 20mbit, that is common where I live, whereas someone living just 50 miles away from me, 1.5mbit may be standard. Compare these speeds with US metropolitan areas and I’m sure the numbers will be up to par.
@ vern, they also did the survey for each of the 50 states of the US and Rhode Island tops the list at 5Mbps followed by New Jersey at 3.6Mbps and New York at 3.4Mbps.
as usual, them japanese guys are pretty advance in everything. all u internet base belong to them.
i think one reason is people don’t want to let go of their dial up. it took me years to convince my stepdad to let go of AOL.
Japan is the best!
To add to Vern… even US metro areas aren’t that fast. That’s because the data center your favorite site is hosted in might be in a different metro area, with some fiber in between. Plus, the US Internet infra is quite complex compared to Japan/SK which are dominated by a few monster telcos.
Looks like Japan is really maximizing its technology, pairing it with impressive dsl speed! well, my bestbud says Canada’s dsl is way way wayy faster than ours, so what more with Japan?
I can only imagine! 
Wow! I remember the time I asked my friends in the US about their connection speed there - said it was much faster, considerably much faster than in the Philippines (they have visited the Philippines more than 5 times already).
But wooooh! Look at Japan’s lead. IT IS a big spread! Awesome!
AnitoKid at http://www.anitokid.blogspot.com
Thanks, it was a pretty interesting chart to me, because I lived and did commercial Internet business in Japan from 1996 through 1999. At that time the telcos and the government were not very forward looking about the Internet at all … South Korea was already about at the speeds they are today, so this had been a tremendous move forward for Japan, in 8 year’s time.
@ Vern, yes, it’s true, the US average speed sucks .. it’s better than the Philippines, perhaps, but lags far, far behind many other countries … much of the US infrastructure is owned/run by cable TV companies and their Internet service is just a necessary evil to them and their business model is built upon “provide the customer with the absolute least”. HBO is much more profitable than ISP service, so that’s where the money is spent.
S. korea and Japan homes are just a few feet from their hub.
I’m in SF Peninsula, connected to a relay or ATM switch near my neighborhood which connects to Hayward, CA. My IP address on however shows I’m in the midwest.
Comcast just came out with the a 150mbps modem.
And there’s a lot of interest - a ton of it, on the spectrum auction in the US. Controversies are surrounding it as we speak. It will quite possibly be the last auction of such in a very long time, thus major players are scrambling for a bigger piece of the pie. And consumers and advocacy groups know that the results of the auction will play a significant role on pricing and service trends in the years that will follow….
AnitoKid at http://www.anitokid.blogspot.com
Hmm… why is Hong Kong not there… my HK friends reports that their top Home connection speed that is affordable to the general population is 7mbps. (Which is roughly the 1.5mbps price in the Philippines.)
Japan is a tiny island compared to America. Of course Japan has higher Internet. There is no reason to be upset or angry. Deal with it. :/
We use that fast fast internet to let you watch Japanese TV online. It’s great viewing. Slingbox + fast fast internet = quality TV. http://watchjapanesetv.com
this is what makes me sick.
we are probably in the top five when it comes to IT outsourcing but our internet here is so slow and expensive.
govt and telcos should really do something about this.
naman! ang bilis! pinagtsatsagaan na nga lang dito ung mabagal na internet eh!
The speeds are pretty good in Japan
Here (in Bulgaria, in Eastern Europe) the speeds are around 30 MBit/s, and technologies like PON, FTTH, FTTP are just starting on the market. I’m on GBit fiber and speed 20+ MB/s (megabytes) are normal.
I wonder that price are paying in Japan for their connections?