Americans have slower mobile internet speed than Estonia

Land of the free home of the...buffering... brave.

U.S. mobile speeds lag behind those found in other developed countries, according to a new report from internet network Akamai.

The good news, however, is that U.S. broadband internet speeds continue to improve, up 22 percent compared to the same time last year. That growth puts the country into the top 10 fastest average speeds at 18.7 megabits per second.

Akamai published the findings in its "State of the internet" report for the first quarter of 2017.

Americans enjoyed an average of 10.7 megabits per second (Mbps). That's not terrible, necessarily, but is far slower than countries like the United Kingdom (a blazing 26 Mbps) and Germany (24.1 Mbps).

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Of the 74 countries in the study, the U.S. came in 32nd, just behind Estonia but ahead of Luxembourg. On the upside, the U.S. came in first in North and South America.

The chart below shows where the U.S. stacks up against other big countries.

Q1 2017 mobile speed by country
Create column charts

The U.S. is above the global average of 7.2 Mbps. The entire globe is getting faster, as that average is 15 percent faster than it was last year.

Africa remains the slowest continent when it comes to mobile speed, though mobile phone adoption has been strong.

Credit: Akamai

Beyond mobile, the U.S. has strides in bringing faster internet to more Americans.

The U.S. is now for the first time in Akamai's top 10 in terms of broadband speed. Its growth over the past year was only bested by Singapore.

Credit: akamai

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