I saw this story in USAToday, while in Atlanta, but wasn’t able to pull it up until I found the original source, (First-Ever State-By-State Report on Internet Connection Speed Shows U.S. Far Behind Other Industrialized Nations) just a minute ago — a report from the Communications workers of America. It’s important to note that the union has a vested interest in working to increase Internet speeds in the U.S.
The first paragraph of the report reads…
Washington, DC.—Results released today (Jun 25, 2007) of the first-ever state-by-state report on Internet connection speed reveal that the United States is falling far behind other industrialized nations. The report, based on aggregated data from nearly 80,000 users, shows that the median real-time download speed in the U.S. is a mere 1.9 megabits per second (mbps). The best available estimates show average download speeds in Japan of 61 mbps, in South Korea of 45 mbps, in France of 17 mbps and in Canada of 7 mbps.
I extracted the data from the PDF file, and imported it into an MS Excel spreadheet. You can get it here. The top 10 states (fasted) for download speeds are:
- Rhode Island
- Kansas
- New Jersey
- New York
- Massachusetts
- Louisiana
- Georgia
- New Hampshire
- Delaware
- Maryland
The bottom ten (slowest) are:
- Arkansas
- Utah
- Idaho
- Montana
- North Dakota
- Iowa
- Wyoming
- West Virginia
- South Dakota
- Alaska
“First-Ever State-By-State Report on Internet Connection Speed Shows U.S. Far Behind Other Industrialized Nations.” CWA. 25 Jun 2007. Communications Workshops of America. 30 Jun 2007 <http://www.cwa-union.org/news/page.jsp?itemID=28663094>.
As I read this I wondered…if this is how the US ranks as a whole (and I make the assumption that the statistics are based on home and business use), where do we stand on bandwidth in education? I know our Lt. Governor in NC is looking at connectivity- shouldn’t our schools?
I think that we have to come to understand that bandwidth are important to teaching and learning. From what I understand, much of the bandwidth to North Carolina schools is used by the new student information management system.
I find it odd that you single out a union as a potentially biased source. Do you have any reason to distrust the report? Certainly a union has a point of view, but so does everyone else. Should I write “David Warlick reports an increase in blog posts about NECC on Hitchhikr. It is important to note that David has a vested interest in the popularity of NECC, blogging and Hitchhikr?” Or “Educating the Dragon reports on the Flaxmere Kids’ Conference. It is important to note that EtD has a vested interest in promoting the conference and ed-tech in Flaxmere?”
In a word, Tom, “Yes!” If you see reason why I have something to gain, personally, from information I share, then yes, if you pass it along, you should qualify it. I really do not see why I would have a personal interest in promoting NECC, other than I believe that it is good for our professional endeavors.
As for unions, if, as a result of this report, there were sudden investments in retooling our Internet infrastructure, well I suspect that it would only be helpful to people in communication technology jobs and to the Communications Workers of America. I reason that they have a vested interest, so I include that in my report. I would expect no less from you or any other blogger!
Can we PLEASE focus on educational progress? (Our children need us to focus here…)
Whoever may gain in the short-term of doing what has to be done, will pale in comparison to the gains that our children can make if we stay focused in preparing them for the future.
Until this particular infrastructure problem is solved, educational technology will continue to grow too slowly and our students will continue to fall behind in their ability to compete in this global economy. (or they’ll be recruited elsewhere)
I assume that America’s business and industry is using most of what is available now, and really has little motivation to increase technology use in our schools unless we can improve the infrastructure to support education as well as industry. But what they must realize is that that will not have any people to work in their businesses in the future if we do not act now to better prepare our students.
Here’s a very realistic scenario for you on the types of things that are happening in some schools: A science teacher friend of mine was talking this weekend about how in her building, there are 3 floors. All of teachers in the building can’t turn their computers on at the same time or it blows the system. So to solve the problem, the administration was very creative…they alternate floors that they will turn on at any one time. 🙂 The teachers really need their computers throughout the day, so they decided to buy wireless laptops with their own money, and place a router in the middle of the building. The administration found out and confiscated their modem!!
Yes, money is tight in schools, so I understand how this sort of thing can happen. BUT teachers don’t make much either, and out of a commitment to better serve their students, these teachers put their money where their mouth was! (they are working on an alternate plane of attack 🙂 for next year)
We all need to have this commitment to educational progress at every level. It is going to take all of us to figure out ways to solve this problem and try to secure funding in order to get it done.
Argh!! Wish I could go back and fix the type-o’s on that one!! 🙂
I know that France (most of Europe) is ahead with wireless, but I am very suspicious of her rating for download speeds in that report. French schools’ connections are poor in many places.
I agree it’s important. This is like our water system… vital infrastructure.