A well known report that measures the speed of broadband Internet service says Vermont finished 2014 just about in the middle of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The state’s ranking took some lumps last year compared to 2012 when the Akamai State of the Internet Report ranked Vermont number one in the country for average connection speeds.
According to the most recent Akamai report, Vermont has now fallen to 24th in the country in terms of broadband speed.
In the second quarter of 2013 Vermont fell to number 17 after 75,000 individual Internet addresses previously thought to be in Massachusetts were moved into Vermont’s column. The fact those addresses had slower speed service bumped the state down the list.
According to the most recent Akamai report, Vermont has now fallen to 24th in the country.
“There are obviously some other states that are seeing slightly more aggressive growth,” says Akamai’s David Belson who edits the quarterly reports.
Belson says the latest figures, which haven’t yet been published by Akamai, still show average Vermont Internet download speeds above 10 megabits per second (Mbps).
That’s more than double the current federal definition of broadband, although many Vermonters have much slower speeds.
The average is high partly because institutional users with high speed connections and account for a significant percentage of the web traffic Akamai measures.
Because of the adjustments made in last year’s numbers, Belson says it’s difficult to compare Vermont’s data with previous years. But he says the state continues to make progress in terms of average speed and the adoption of high speed broadband above 10 Mbps.
Still, a year ago Vermont officials were proclaiming “We’re Number One,” based on the Akamai figures. Now Belson’s assessment is more modest.
“You’re doing okay,” he says. “Depending on the metric you’re either squarely in the middle or slightly ahead of the midpoint. But having said that, I think the speeds and adoption rates we’re seeing from Vermont are good.”
Akamai’s fourth quarter 2013 report shows New Hampshire ranked 7 and Maine 40 in average connection speeds.
