Friday, August 15, 2008

internet speed test ranks montana 49th

The organization Speed Matters just issued its 2008 report on internet speeds in the US. You can download the entire report, a state ranking table and/or reports on individual states.

Montana's results were as follows for 2008:
Number of tests - 497
Median download speed - 1,320 kbps (1.32 Mbps)
Median upload speed - 378 kbps
Download speed ranking - 49

While this is not exactly a scientific study, individuals go to the website to test their speeds similarly to DSL Reports. It's just that these results are collected. And I think they are interesting nonetheless. But I probably wouldn't give them a whole lot of credence particularly when broken down by county. I couldn't help but notice that Custer county was awfully red - 6 Mbps +. It could have been only one person with high bandwidth testing per zip code. Why not add your library's data to the mix, especially if you're in one of the blank areas. Use this box to test your speed:



I did want to bring greater attention to this report because it supports my assertion in a posting to the E-Rate blog that we really do need to be working on increasing bandwidth for our public libraries. 1.32 Mbps just does not cut it in a video/audio downloading/streaming world!

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