Where you live plays a decisive role in whether or not you can dependably use the Internet. When the Internet slows to a crawl it’s difficult to do simple things like watch a video, listen to a song, or even load an article on a newspaper website. A slow Internet is not a healthy Internet.
According to open data from Measurement Lab based on over 1 billion user generated Internet speed tests worldwide, the median speeds people experience accessing content on the Internet have been getting faster in all regions since 2012.
Individual countries stand out with either higher or lower than regional average speeds, but on average North America and Europe enjoy the fastest speeds and Africa the slowest.
Measure your own Internet speed. How does it compare?
With access to a free, open Internet measurement tool, anyone can safely check whether they are getting the service they are promised. Researchers, regulators and ISPs can also use tests to see how the Internet is working for everyone and improve it for the future.
How to make the Internet faster? There are a number of technical and policy decisions that can affect speeds. For instance, telecom companies can be required to share towers and cables with each other, and facilitate sharing or trading of spectrum (the airwaves used to beam the Internet).
Such actions improve connections, reduce costs and improve service for all.
Regional Internet speed growth in Megabits per second (Mbps) as measured by M-Lab users
Data source: Measurement Lab (M-Lab ) 2017 (Latin America is not included in this graph because it still is an emerging area of expansion for M-Lab)