Akamai: World Internet connection speeds on the rise; Russia, Brazil top cyberattack centers

The Top 10 nations for Internet performance saw a double-digit average increase in speed in just three months' time, according to a new report released Wednesday.

In the latest State of the Internet report by Akamai, countries in the Top 10 list for Internet performance saw an 18 percent average increase in speed from Q2 2009 to Q3 2009.

South Korea was the most improved, with a 29 percent increase in speed, to 14.6 megabits per second.

Ireland came in a close second with a 26 percent rise to 5.3Mbps. Year over year, Ireland has seen a 73 percent improvement in connection speed.

Once again, the United States did not make the Top 10 list -- it was No. 18 -- with only a 1.8 percent increase to reach an average connection speed of 3.9Mbps. (Year-over-year, the U.S. has seen a 2.4 percent decline in speed.)

On the other hand, some countries --Romania, Sweden, the Czech Republic -- actually saw speeds drop quarter-over-quarter.

In the United States, the state of Massachusetts enjoyed the most improved speed, with an increase of 20 percent for an average of 5.9Mbps. Washington, D.C. and Utah both saw speeds improve by 16 percent.

But some states saw speed declines: New Hampshire's average speed declined by 7.4 percent, while New York's fell by 2.2 percent.

• The top countries with percentages of connection speeds to Akamai above 5 Mbps were South Korea, Japan, Romania, Sweden and Hong Kong.
• The U.S. was ranked 12th with 24 percent of connections to Akamai at speeds above 5 Mbps.
• The top countries with speeds above 25 Mbps were South Korea (16 percent) and Hong Kong (5.7 percent). The U.S. has 1 percent of connections at those speeds.
• Top nations for broadband penetration were: Norway (.34 IPs per capita), Monaco (.33 IPs), Denmark (.33 IPs), Sweden (.31 IPs) and the Netherlands (.31 IPs). The U.S. had .23 IPs per capita.
• For the sixth consecutive quarter, the U.S. and China accounted for almost 40 percent of observed IP addresses.

Akamai also analyzed the mobile market in the report. According to the company, average mobile connect speeds with Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint were all between 700Kbps and 800Kbps.

Finally, Akamai also reviewed security. Russia and Brazil surpassed the U.S. and China as the two top nations that originate cyber attacks, together accounting for nearly 22 percent of all global attacks.

Image at top: Broadband adoption in North America; 57 percent overall