Australian broadband speeds increase by 20% in 8 months
Average home broadband connection now 4.2Mbps
Regional speeds 1Mbps slower than metro areas
Optus faster than Telstra BigPond by average of almost 1.5Mbps
Independent research has revealed an increase of 20% for home broadband speeds in the last eight months according to results from over 10,000 Australians who ran a broadband speed test on the independent broadband comparison website www.broadbandexpert.com.au.
Tests show the average home broadband connection clocked a speed of 4.2Mbps between April 2010 and September 2010 compared to 3.5Mbps in the period from July 2009 December 2009. Optus recorded the fastest average speed at 7.19Mbps with Telstra BigPond coming in second at 5.71Mbps.
However, despite this recent speed boost Australia still lags a long way behind the UK (average speed 5.93Mbps) and the US (average speed 5.75Mbps).
Rob Webber, commercial director at Broadband Expert welcomes the speed increase, but highlights the stark contrast between metro and regional areas.
"A 20% increase in average speed in such a short period of time is an impressive result. However, it's important to remember that regional Australia is still being left behind," he says.
Broadband Expert's research reveals that urban areas have an average speed of 5.28Mbps compared to a frustrating 4.29Mbps nearly 1Mbps slower for regional Australia.
The research by Broadband Expert showed that the type of connection available to customer also has a huge impact on speed. Customers with cable broadband received, on average, an impressive 9.75Mbps compared to 5.62Mbps for those with ADSL2+ broadband and a sluggish 2.47Mbps for those using standard ADSL (only slightly faster than mobile broadband which averages 2.09Mbps).
Australian broadband speeds increase by 20% in 8 months