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East Coast Broadband Fastest In USA

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-can't-even-get-cable dept.

Death Metal Maniac writes "The study, which was conducted by affordable-broadband advocacy group Speed Matters, found that the nine states with the fastest median download connections are all located on the East Coast. Rhode Island (6.8Mbps) and Delaware (6.7Mbps) have the fastest, and nearly triple the national median download speed of 2.3Mbps. Rounding out the Top 5 states are New Jersey (5.8Mbps), Virginia (5Mbps) and Massachusetts (4.6Mbps)."

12 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. geh by snarfies · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's nice.

    Meanwhile, as of last week, we STILL cannot buy FIOS in Philadelphia. No matter how much I want to give Verizon my money, they just won't take it.

    1. Re:geh by nine-times · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So I called them up and asked how to get started. They did some checking on things, and told me it wasn't available in my area. I was confused. Did they not have my address when they sent me the flyer?

      Yeah. Frustrating. I've been having fliers delivered to my doorstep for *years* now, and yet they're not even remotely in my area. It's not just a situation where the neighbors down the street can get FiOS, but I'm just barely on the other side of the line-- no. You can't get FiOS in my zip code. You can't even get it in my neighboring zipcodes.

    2. Re:geh by nabsltd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I mean, FIOS is fast and all from what the numbers say, but I don't look forward to being a Verizon customer.

      Yes, it's painful to navigate their phone tree to get anything done. I wanted to increase the speed (i.e., pay them more money), and it took nearly two days of tranfers to get to the right person to talk to.

      On the other hand, it took less than 3 days to get that higher speed enabled, and I have had so few problems with the service itself (almost no downtime, no speed limits, etc.) that it's worth the occasional hassle.

      One other thing I like about Verizon FIOS is that the price they quote is what you pay. I'm on a $139.99/month plan (15/15 with 5 static IPs) and that is exactly what my bill is each month. No tax, no franchise fee, no "network access fee", etc. Of course, the cell phone side of Verizon can't do their bills like this because "it's a goverment-imposed rule" (not).

    3. Re:geh by nabsltd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      While Slashdotters are often more interested in FiOS internet service, it's cable television services which call the shots. To offer cable in a locality, Verizon must first obtain a license from the city or town.

      This is only for TV service. I had FIOS internet for nearly two years before my county approved Verizon as a cable TV provider.

    4. Re:geh by paganizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Paris, TN; outside "city" limits:

      Beasley Wireless
      $40 for 384k down, 128k up (except during daylight hours, when you are lucky to get any connection at all)

      AT&T
      $23 for single channel ISDN (64k), $40 / mo. line charges. (128k ISDN unavailable)

      Various
      $23 for 33.6k (on a good day) dial-up

      Must be nice to not be limited by the above choices.

      --
      Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
  2. Rest of the world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anyone have comparable statistics for Europe and the relevant parts of Asia?

  3. check this out: by amnezick · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In Romania UPC gives 20mbps for ~30$/mo ... and it is considered a developing country.

    --
    mov ax,4c00h
    int 21h
  4. Re:flawed test by Alien+Being · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My comcast connection just did 15.5 Mbit/s on the speedmatters test but it's just the result of comcast's traffic shaping policy. For a sustained transfer, the speed would be half that.

  5. We have 50 Mbps fiber in Utah by GiovanniZero · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The study obviously wasn't that thorough. We have Fiber in utah that gives you 50 Mbps UP and down for $80/mo. It's a helluva lot cheaper and better than Verizon fios.

    --
    Mod me up, mod me down, do your worst you modding clown.
  6. I'm curious if anyone beats the Cincinnati Area by shdowhawk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So far it seems that the fastest AND most affordable internet (combo) here in the states is available in the Cincinnati area (that I've personally seen). It's got 3 major cities within about 1.5 hours, one of the busiest airports in the mid-west (I'm still EST time zone), a few major train rails and highways 70,71 and 75 all very near by. This makes it a prime location for major companies, except that there aren't THAT many (proctor and gamble is here for example).

    I mention this because there aren't too many nerdy types like me out here.. except that they set up the broadband out here to handle major *potential* commercial needs.

    So here I sit paying $50 a month for "20 meg download" (which is literally about 2.4-2.5 megabytes per second at maxed connection). That's the upgraded package. Normally it's $40 for "10 meg download"... but 10$ more for double the connection? Easy choice for me! What is interesting is that my speeds actually can hit that through usenet / bittorrents.

    Just curious, do these speeds at that low of a price exist anywhere else out there for that cheap? I've not yet heard of that elsewhere. I use Insight Broadband. Note: Internet speeds are great, but the commercials and customer service / "pay-by-internet" really really suck.

  7. hmmm by nomadic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I get about 756k in Miami for $10 a month. I could go faster I guess, but why bother? When I went from 2400 baud to 44k baud, that was really cool. When I went from 44k baud to cable modem, that was really cool. Any incremental increase after that is eh.

  8. What competition by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What is that competition you are talking about? For last three years, I do not have any choice other than comcast for "high speed internet". And this is central NJ - probably the largest urban sprawl in the whole freaking world.