What Are Normal Internet Transfer Speeds?

By Chelsea Anderson

Internet transfer speeds vary by type and region.
i internet image by Jean-Michel POUGET from Fotolia.com

There are a variety of ways to connect to the Internet, each with benefits and drawbacks. Each connection has its own average connection speeds. Dial-up is typically slowest, followed by DSL, though this can vary by region.

Broadband

The average speed for broadband connections in the United States is 3.9 megabytes per second. Worldwide, the average is 1.7 Mbps.

Dial-Up Speeds

The fastest dial-up modems are rated for 56 kilobytes per second. The maximum upload is either 33.6 Kbps or 48.0 Kbps, depending on the modem. Typical speeds will be somewhat slower.

DSL

DSL service is typically much faster than dial-up, but slower than cable. Speeds can dip as low as 768 Kbps and range as high as 7 Mbps for higher-end services.

Cable

Cable speeds can range from 4 Mbps to 20 Mbps, depending on the quality of cable, competition for bandwidth and other factors.

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