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U.S. Ranks 15th for Mobile Broadband Speeds

A new OpenSignal report shows that U.S. network speeds are getting even slower.

Mobile connectivity is becoming increasingly important, but in the U.S., mobile network speeds are lagging. A new report published by OpenSignal shows that the U.S. just barely edges out the Philippines at an average 4G LTE connection speed of 6.5 Mbps, while more than a dozen countries smash American speeds, led by Australia with an average 4G LTE connection of 24.5 Mbps.

The report also contains several other metrics, including what percentage of the time users can stay on a 4G LTE network, and coverage by network and country.

The report also highlights winners and losers in several categories. While Australia is the country with the fastest average network speed, Claro Brazil has the fastest single network at 27.8 Mbps. Japan improved the most since OpenSignal’s last report, improving 66 percent up to 11.8 Mbps speeds. The U.S. saw the biggest decline of any country since Open Signal’s 2013 report, declining from 9.6 Mbps to 6.5 Mbps. South Korea has the best network coverage with its users having access to a 4G LTE network 91 percent of the time.

The report also compared 4G LTE with other technologies and found that 4G LTE is the fastest widely available mobile service, more than five times faster than 3G and more than twice as fast as HSPA+ networks. The survey showed that 76 countries have 4g LTE networks, 18 more are scheduled for buildouts.

For the full report, visit OpenSignal.

Colin wrote for Government Technology and Emergency Management from 2010 through most of 2016.