High-Speed Internet: US 4G Data Speeds The 2nd Slowest In The World

When it comes to high-speed internet, you might be surprised to hear that mobile 4G data speeds in the United States are actually the second slowest in the world.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, if you compare AT&T and Verizon phone plans you might be surprised to hear that Verizon data speeds are not quite up to snuff even though Verizon charges a premium for their 4G data plans. AT&T’s 4G LTE network is the fastest with download speeds averaging 18.6 Mbps and upload speeds averaging 9.0 Mbps. AT&T also posted the highest maximum data speed at 57.7 Mbps. The Verizon phone plans still managed a good second place, posting average data speeds of 14.3 Mbps for downloading and 8.5 Mbps for uploading.

Some people might look at those results for mobile high-speed internet and say that doesn’t seem so bad. But AT&T and Verizon also happen to have some of the most expensive data plans, so you get what you pay for, and the report by British research firm OpenSignal claims that overall the United States is suffering.

In 2012, if you included all the carriers in the United States together, they posted a combined average 4G download speed of 9.6 Mbps, which is about half of the AT&T network. The oddball part is that in 2013 the average 4G download speed in the United States actually dropped down to 6.5 Mbps. Tech Spot explains why our high-speed internet could actually slow:

“The report also noted that the U.S. networks uniformly performed poorly, and no particular operator was responsible for the drop in the nation’s average speeds. Congested service could be the outcome of spectrum allocations, staggered network rollouts, equipment upgrades, additional customers, and more.”

While the United States doesn’t have high-speed internet like Australia, which gets 24.5 Mbps on average, at least we are not as bad as the Philippines. Still, even South American countries like Brazil beat the US, posting 4G data rates exceeding 21 Mbps.