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By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF
Internet speeds in the United States have long trailed those in other countries like South Korea. Downloading videos, games and other big files often takes far longer for Americans than their counterparts across the globe.
In the latest global rankings, the United States remained a slow-poke, placing No. 26 in terms of speediest Internet connections, according to Pando Networks, a company whose software is used for sharing large files. South Korea led the list followed by Romania and Bulgaria.
“The U.S., as whole, is slower than many people think,” said Robert Levitan, chief executive of Pando Networks. “It’s not bad compared to Europe, but it’s bad compared to South Korea.”
Average Internet downloads in South Korea of 2,202 kilobytes per second were nearly four times faster than the 616 KBps in the United States, the report found. South Korea has invested heavily in its Internet infrastructure and has the advantage of high population density that makes it more cost efficient to install the necessary cables.
Hungary came in just ahead of the United States in the rankings at 624 KBps. France and the United Kingdom were slightly slower at 604 KBps and 599 KBps.
Pando Networks based its findings on 27 million downloads from 20 million computers in 224 countries over the first six months of this year. The company measured actual download speeds, and not the network capacity cited by Internet service providers or the price paid for the services.
A separate study by Pando Networks earlier this month showed the average speeds in all 50 states. Rhode Island led the list with 894 KBps while Idaho finished last at 318 KBps. ...
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http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/america-land-of-the-slow/?ref=technology
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