High-speed internet—we can’t live without it anymore. Whether we’re at home, at the office, or on the go, we always need fast and reliable internet in our country. With an average speed of 188 Mbps, the Netherlands ranks seventh among countries with the fastest internet worldwide. Belgium ranks 27th with an average speed of 125 Mbit, and the fastest internet was measured in Iceland!
Measured average speeds worldwide
Cable and M-lab conducted this study and performed speed tests around the world. To do so, they used speed tests conducted by users themselves in each country. In the Netherlands, the researchers used data from 1.7 million IP addresses, and in Belgium, 1.8 million. In total, the research teams analyzed approximately 1.5 million speed tests from around the world. The speeds measured were based on Wi-Fi speeds, which means the results may have been lower than what the connections are actually capable of. Additionally, people often only run a speed test when they suspect there are issues with their connection or when their internet suddenly gets faster. As a result, it is unclear how representative the figures truly are.
Changes over the past few years
Many countries that rank near the bottom of the list have always been near the bottom. Take Syria and Turkmenistan, for example. Nevertheless, there have been some changes in internet speeds in certain countries. For instance, the United Kingdom has dropped in the rankings compared to other countries in Western Europe. The researchers attribute this to the relative pace at which Full Fiber is being rolled out in the United Kingdom. Efforts are underway in England, but progress does not seem to be as rapid as in other European countries. Finally, the researchers note that in some countries, an increasing number of people are consciously choosing subscriptions with lower speeds, primarily due to high costs. This, of course, can also influence the results!
Conclusion
So it looks like the Netherlands is doing well globally when it comes to internet speeds. In recent years, a lot of time and money has suddenly been invested in building fiber-optic networks here. As a result, we already have access to faster and more stable internet in large parts of the country. The average speed here is expected to keep rising in the coming years 😉