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The Best (and Worst) Internet in the World

The internet drives almost every aspect of modern life, so which countries have the best and worst internet in the world?

By Benjamin WareingPublished 7 years ago 5 min read
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Photo by Hannah Wei

The internet drives almost every aspect of modern life, more so in developed countries than not. Everything from the phones in our pockets to the watches on our wrists, the fridges we use to the cars we drive. It’s a fast-changing, fast-developing world with broadband speeds only ever rising.

The news of SpaceX’s recent rocket explosion caught the eyes of everyone across the globe, but one fact often went un-noticed; Mark Zuckerberg’s £150 million satellite, labelled as "The Facebook Satellite," went up in flames alongside the rocket. What was its purpose? To deliver internet connectivity to areas of the world with limited internet.

As a write this with relatively fast internet in the UK (the second best package publicly available), I explore the world’s best and worst commercially available internet—obviously excluding countries with no access to internet.

Finland

The Finland average megabyte per second scored a value of 7.1 mbps in 2012, and by the first three months of 2013, reached 7.7 mbps. Up 20 percent from the year previously, the average continues to rise with unprecedented speed and doesn’t appear to be stopping. Whilst most people wouldn’t imagine Finland as having one of the world’s leading internet connections, it continues to surprise and prove critics wrong.

Sweden

To me, Sweden is one of those countries that excels at almost everything. From health-care to relationships, education to law and order. Its internet connection clearly doesn’t let it down, standing at an impressive 7.3 mbps. Within three months of this average, it reached a new value of 8.3 mbps—rising surprisingly fast to match the rest of the world.

USA

During 2012, researchers logged the average internet speed as 7.4 mbps, but three months following, the figures reached in excess of 8.6 mbps, more than a whole megabyte per second faster than the previous year’s average.

Whilst the US certainly has amongst the world’s highest daily internet users, it’s surprising to note it only comes at eight on the list. However, further recent government suggestions have pushed for faster nationwide connections.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic, renowned for its beer by tourists and its castles by sightseers, remains one of the more beautiful-yet-unknown countries. One thing it does nail with great public appraisal is its quick internet connections, registering most recently at 9.6 mbps, with figures continually rising with each test.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands recently hit news for the fact that it is literally sinking. It remains under sea-level, but one thing stands high above—at 9.9mbps, the internet connection knocks its "semi-neighbouring" UK to shame. Whilst most wouldn’t associate the relatively quiet country with super-fast connections, it creeps up the list continually.

Switzerland

Just like Sweden, Switzerland boasts some of the world’s best in, well, everything. The education is often heralded as being revolutionary, the health-care boasts some of the worlds most desired facilities (the controversial Dignitas being foremost in mind) and its incredible 10.06 mbps internet connection still has me crying with jealousy. Take me there, please?

Latvia

Latvia is one of those surprise countries on the list. With Western definitions not being the most pretty in association with the small-ish country, one thing is for sure, even the US is envious of its internet. Recent averages have shown around 10 mbps to be its average value, with figures often seen rising around that level.

Hong Kong

Despite it’s now uber-independence, Hong Kong benefits from its colonial roots under Great Britain, with incredible infrastructure, financial gatherings from across the globe and one of the world’s fastest growing economies. In Hong Kong, the average download speed is 9.3 mbps—miles ahead of the average 1.7 mbps in mainland China.

Japan

No surprises here, Japan almost tops the list with an average download speed of over 11.6 mbps. As one of the world’s leading super powers in innovation and technology, Japan continues to push the limits of what is technologically possible, or at least what they can make possible. As a result, internet speeds continue to rise exponentially in Japan, with no clear end as funding grows just as fast.

South Korea

South Korea boasts the world’s fastest internet. At 14.2 mbps on average, the country benefits from seamless download and upload speeds, a testament to the continued state funding in infrastructure and technology to surpass the rest of the world. Year on year, the average speed rises by about 13 percent with no end in sight. No surprised there, considering South Korea is the birthplace of Samsung and many other technological innovations for the modern world.

Cuba

The world is a pretty technologically advanced place, if you haven’t figured that out yet, but there are some pretty lame places if you want to download the hottest por… movies and games…

Here are the world’s absolute worst internet connections:

Honorable Mentions (Okay… the world’s worst)

Cuba boasts the slowest internet amongst all Western countries at just 210 kbps—nope, no typo there. Cuba seriously has download speeds reaching an average of 0.21 mbps. Even countries such as Haiti have faster connections than poor Cuba.

Iran

The war-torn country of Iran also hosts some of the worst download speeds in the world, namely due to the spending on war and security over infrastructure and technology. Average speeds reach about 0.63 mbps, slightly faster than Cuba but even worse than countries such as Yemen.

Laos

Located in Southeast Asia, Laos has the slowest internet speed amongst all the countries around it. Standing at a mere 0.96 mbps, Laos is far slower than its neighbours—Vietnam on an average 1.4 mbps, Cambodia at 1.5 mbps and Thailand relatively lightyears ahead at 4.4 mbps.

Think your internet can be pretty crap at times? Thank yourself you aren’t experiencing the same issue as those guys, or instead, deeply envy the guys at the top of the list. Either way, speeds are increasing worldwide and I often wonder how far we will have travelled in 10, 20, or 50 years. Maybe one day I’ll be able to download an Xbox game in under three hours. A man can dream.

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About the Creator

Benjamin Wareing

Journalist and photographer. News, opinions and politics are my forte. Futuristic dystopian is my kink.

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