With the way technology growth is taking off not only in the US, but also in the world, we are becoming more and more dependent upon the internet. We pay our bills online, watch our favorite shows online, stay in touch with friends and get all of our news. We are only going to continue to develop ways to further the use of internet in our daily lives. Although we are continually advancing our technology, for many Americans, internet access is not something they have easy access to.
Zing Broadband took a look at internet access in America, which lead to some astonishing data. Over 100 million people lack home access to broadband internet, which is about a third of the US population. In addition to the only about 70% of Americans having high speed internet connections, those who do have internet access are paying on average 25% more per month than South Koreans. South Koreans have an average internet speed of 15.7 Mbps, while Americans average 6.7 Mbps. So not only are they getting a faster, more reliable internet connection, they are also paying less for it.
America currently ranks 12th in average connection speed when compared to the rest of the world. America is also ranked 2nd of those countries in the amount of web traffic it has. So why is America so far behind of the internet access curve? One reason most people point to is there are currently 3 companies that control 48% of the market share for internet access providers.
The current average US household uses 52 GB of data per month but by 2016, it is expected to be 4x that number. So where do we go from here? Hopefully the answer is a better internet for Americans but it is going to take changes to be made by our government. Take a look at the infographic and share with your friends. Get the discussion going to improve America’s internet access.
