If you’ve been thinking your Internet speed seems to have increased over the past few months, you may not be imagining things.
According to WhistleOut, a comparison website that assists consumers in broadband and other technology offerings, Wyoming has seen its Internet speed increase the most of any states in the country.
“Wyoming Internet users have benefited the most from higher broadband speeds during the months of the pandemic, with average download speeds increasing by a whopping 52%,” the site reports.
That’s good news for the Cowboy State. After all, last year Wyoming was ranked 46th in the country just for broadband connectivity.
WhistleOut credits, at least in the part, the Wyoming Broadband Council efforts to improve Internet connectivity and speeds to underserved rural populations.
Wally Wolski, the state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s office of Rural Development, told Cowboy State Daily last year that the disparity between urban and rural areas for broadband connectivity is similar to the “electrification gap” in the U.S. back in the 1920s and 1930s.
“It was a real case of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots,’” he said. “We have the same issue today with broadband. Electrification didn’t just provide lights to rural areas, it empowered people and look at all the things that came about because of electricity.”
WhistleOut said the overall average Internet speeds across the United States have increased throughout the pandemic, from 84.9 Mbps to 94.6 Mbps —despite the surge in bandwidth demand from more Zoom-ing, streaming, gaming, and more.
“One potential reason for the upward shift could lie in the fact that consumers have upgraded their Internet plans to faster ones, thereby raising the overall average for home Internet speeds,” it reported.
“Some Internet service providers, like Cox, have also increased overall Internet speeds for some plans in response to the pandemic,” it said.
