Alaska has a lot to boast about, given its incredible landscapes, but it can't boast about having speedy Internet.
That's the reveal of a new report by Broadview Networks, tapping Akamai's "State of the Internet" report, which ranks the Internet speeds of each U.S. state.
The fastest state is Virginia, reports the study, and the slowest state of all is Alaska, which has an average Internet speed of 7.0 Mbps. This was followed by Kentucky, Arkansas and Montana, which all have an average speed of 7.3 Mbps.
One of the biggest trends is that Northeastern states generally have faster Internet speeds, while Midwestern states, less populated states and Alaska generally have slower Internet speeds. More details can be found in the full Akamai report.
While Alaska does have the slowest Internet speed of any state in the U.S., it is important to note that its speed is also growing. Between the first quarter of 2013 and first quarter of 2014, the average Internet speed in Alaska grew by 33 percent. Arkansas' average speed is growing the fastest out of the slowest five states, growing 69 percent over the last year.
Nearly every state saw an improvement in average Internet speeds, except Vermont, which fell 17 percent over the last year.
The average Internet speed in the U.S. in general is 10.5 Mbps, with California sitting just above that at 10.9 Mbps. This is interesting considering the fact that California is widely regarded as the hub of tech innovation in the U.S.
Other states that ranked as some of the slowest in the U.S. include West Virginia, with a speed of 7.5 Mbps; Mississippi and New Mexico, with an average speed of 7.6 Mbps; and Missouri, which has an average Internet speed of 7.7 Mbps. While these states are ranked among the slowest in the U.S., they are all getting faster.
These states rank among the slowest in the U.S., but compared with the national average they really aren't that slow. It's when their speeds are compared with speeds in other countries that we see just how slow they are. South Korea has an average Internet speed of 23.6 Mbps. Other countries at the top of the list include the Czech Republic, Finland and Ireland.
