DSLReports Speed Test Data: Slow DSL Drags Down Avg. U.S. Speeds

A new breakdown of DSLReports speedtest data for May (pdf) suggests that sluggish DSL lines and under-performing 4G LTE networks continue to bring down average United States connection speeds. On the plus side, while we only ranked the most heavily represented countries in our data, the United States fiber speeds are second only to Japan (138.14 Mbps on average for the US, compared to 166.38 Mbps on average for Japan).

Unfortunately, fiber connections remain few and far between for most US consumers. In fact, according to the latest data from the OECD , the United States fiber connection penetration rate of 9% is about half of the OECD average, and roughly an eighth of top-ranked Japan.

When it comes to DSL, the average connection speed in the United States (13.67 Mbps) is notably slower than Canada (16.91 Mbps), the UK (23.83 Mbps), Japan (28.23 Mbps), or the multi-country average (18.38 Mbps). That's thanks in part to a lack of competition in the overall broadband space, but also courtesy of AT&T and Verizon's decision to effectively walk away from DSL customers the two companies don't want to upgrade.

Many of those customers are seeing higher rates than ever, but haven't seen their lines upgraded in some time and are facing increasing lag in getting troublesome lines repaired.

On the wireless front, US 4G LTE speeds fair somewhat better at 21.46 Mbps, compared to average speeds of 8.75 Mbps for Canada, 13.64 Mbps for Australia, 11.84 Mbps for the UK, and 26.58 Mbps in Japan. We've only included most heavily-represented countries in our analysis here; other studies have pegged the United States at around 55th in overall LTE speeds, thanks to older and thereby more heavily-used 4G LTE networks, but also because US carriers have been notably slower in getting higher-capacity LTE variations deployed.

On the cable front, the United States sees a mixed ranking despite the relatively low-cost of DOCSIS 3.0 (and now 3.1) upgrades and cable's almost total domination of new subscriber additions. The United States average cable speeds according to our collected data is 65.36 Mbps, compared to 56.72 Mbps for Canada, 36.68 Mbps for Australia, 77.10 Mbps for the UK, and 66.11 Mbps for Japan. Cable averages should change dramatically in 2016 as gigabit speeds over DOCSIS 3.1 technology are deployed.

All told, the United States reports a cross-technology average speed of 50.19 Mbps, compared to 62.59 Mbps for Japan, 47.95 Mbps for Canada, 40.45 Mbps for the UK, and 29.61 Mbps for Australia. And while DSL in particular brings down the US average, Australia continues to be the worst cross-technology performer of the bunch. That's despite the country's heavily vaunted, open access National Broadband Network (NBN), which once promised the sky but has been bogged down by political infighting over costs and which technologies to use.Interested users can check out our full report on average connection speeds here (pdf). We're always looking for more data. Head over to our HTML 5 based speedtest for a comprehensive look at your broadband line's speed and performance.