[jotm]

One thing to consider is that US households are quite often getting less than the advertised speeds (probably because ISP's don't want to bother installing more repeaters or it's difficult to do so). I.e. you can barely get 10 Mbps on a 20/1 Mbps package. That skews the average speed stats.

From my experience, that is not the case in the EU - you pay for 20/1 Mbps, you get those speeds +/- a few Kb. Which is also why many don't want to switch from DSL to fiber where it is available - "why would I need that, my Internet is fast enough".

[rayiner]

No, Akamai's data is based on achieved speeds, not advertised speeds. It's the results showing European broadband to be faster and American to be behind that are based on advertised speeds.