Choosing a broadband provider is a little like shopping blind folded: you rarely know what speed connection you’ll actually get until you’ve handed over your first month’s subscription. Also, marketing material carefully uses the phrase “up to”, so consumers tend to only know about the best case scenario speeds of different providers.
To address the problem, Ookla, the company behind Speedtest.net, has just released data that shows what speed different ISPs deliver. The company’s NetIndex site already ranks cities, U.S. states, and countries by their average connection speeds. The new data comes from a questionnaire that appears after someone uses speedtest.net to test their connection. In the last 30 days or so, around 100,000 people have responded.
Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the ranking of all ISPs across the U.S. At the time of writing Comcast comes out top, followed by less well known providers Charter, Optimum Online, MidContinent Communications and Road Runner. You can drill down to see the list for individual states, for example Massachusetts, and cities.
Don’t settle for half the story.
Get paywall-free access to technology news for the here and now.
