100Mbps Internet available to 59% of US – Gigabit just 3%
2 percent of Americans can’t even get 3Mbps!
More than one quarter of American homes have not adopted Internet service, many citing cost as their primary reason. Since market competition can significantly affect consumer prices, we set out to ask: how many Internet service providers (ISPs) are available to consumers at different levels of download speeds? – Department of Commerce
Though some pockets of the US have a competitive market for ultra-fast broadband, a new government report shows that Internet service of at least 100Mbps is limited, and where it exists there is usually just one provider 
that offers it.
Fifty-nine percent of the US population can buy service of at least 100Mbps download speed, according to the Department of Commerce report released earlier this week. But only eight percent can choose from at least two 100Mbps providers, and just one percent can choose from three.
Further, “only 3 percent of the population had 1Gbps or greater available; none had two or more ISPs at that speed,” the report said. It’s not exactly “none”—data in the appendix shows a fraction of one percent of Americans can choose from multiple gigabit providers. This is beginning to change. For example, AT&T and Google are now offering gigabit service in Austin, Texas. The Commerce report is a bit outdated, using data from December 2013.
At the lower end, the report found that 98 percent of Americans can get at least 3Mbps, while 88 percent can choose from at least two providers, and 56 percent can choose from at least three. Two percent of Americans had no options even at 3Mbps.
The statistics include broadband services such as DSL, cable, and fiber. They also include terrestrial fixed wireless Internet service, but not satellite or mobile cellular service.
The numbers differ slightly from wireline-only figures previously quoted by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. That report showed the state of competition for speeds up to 50Mbps only. With 100Mbps and gigabit speeds, the new Commerce report helps detail the market for very high-speed service.
But these statistics raises questions. Just how much bandwidth do most U.S. consumers really need? And how much bandwidth is required so that user experience is not impaired?
What is needed to support the everyday applications that users on fixed or mobile networks typically undertake?
Basically, peak bandwidth requirements are driven by the number of people sharing a single account, the amount of time that each user spends using the Internet, the number of simultaneous users and the types–and numbers–of apps they use when online. Application bandwidth requirements also are an issue.
At download speeds of 3 megabits per second (Mbps), which approximates the Federal Communications Commission’s current standard for basic broadband service, 98 percent of the U.S. population had a choice of at least two mobile ISPs, and 88 percent had two or more fixed ISPs available to them.
However, when multiple household members consume video streaming services, music streaming, and online games, 3 Mbps can quickly become inadequate. To understand download speed at 3 Mbps, it takes approximately 2.25 hours to download a 6 gigabyte movie. The same movie would take only 16 minutes to download at 25 Mbps.
A single user requires 4 Mbps for high-definition quality streaming video.
Although there is increased focus lately on gigabit networks and services running at hundreds of megabits, more commonly, there remains little evidence, so far, that it actually makes a difference to most end users, in terms of better user experience.
High speed is great, however sufficient service for most web surfers can be attained with DSL. Generally, here we recommend going with cable only for Internet service and using satellite for TV. And, if you can’t get a good bargain on Internet service alone through your cable company (because they’re trying to get you into a triple play) opt for another solution.
Of course, in the end, more is better.
