Media Takes Note of Unique CWA Internet Speed Survey

CWA's release this week of the first-ever national state-by-state Internet speed survey, showing that actual user speeds for broadband services in the United States are far below speeds in most other developed nations, drew widespread media coverage.

USA Today featured the CWA Speed Matters survey on its front page on Tuesday, headlined, "U.S. Net Access Not All that Speedy," and other stories appeared in dozens of newspapers and on technology websites and blogs following release of the report by Pres. Larry Cohen in a teleconference with reporters.

The survey of 80,000 Internet broadband users who took a real-time speed test at CWA's Speed Matters website shows a median U.S. download speed of 1.9 megabits per second (mbps), compared, for instance, with 61 mbps in Japan, 45 mbps in South Korea, 17 mbps in France and 7 mbps in Canada.  More than 95 percent of the participants used DSL and cable modems.

"We have pathetic speeds compared to the rest of the world.  People don't pay attention to the fact that the country that started the commercial Internet is falling woefully behind," USA Today quoted Cohen.  "In order to maintain our place in today's global economy – and to create the jobs we need – our government must act."

The survey report, posted at www.SpeedMatters.org, breaks down speeds for every state and the District of Columbia, with rankings showing Alaska at the bottom with a median download speed of about one-half mbps, and Rhode Island No. 1 at 5 mbps.

Maps for each state show the speeds in various geographic locations – graphically demonstrating that the higher speeds tend to be around larger cities, with rural areas showing patches of red indicating speeds less than 768 kilobits per second (kbps).

The fact that the CWA national speed test report is unique actually spotlights a huge problem – the U.S. government has no idea where high speed services are deployed and what they cost, Cohen told reporters, noting that the Federal Communications Commission uses a badly outdated definition for "broadband" of 200 kbps, barely faster than dial-up.

To rectify the problem and help move toward a national high speed policy, CWA is supporting a Senate bill, the Broadband Data Improvement Act (S.1492), which raises the broadband speed definition and calls for federal collection of deployment data with grants to states and communities for high speed mapping.  Unions are included as part of planning teams to receive grants for development projects.

"The benefits of true broadband access for communicating across the country are innumerable," Cohen said in releasing the study.  "From e-government and distance learning to telemedicine and public safety, high speed Internet access for all Americans, rural and urban, is essential to improving the quality of our economic, civic and personal lives."