Oregon’s broadband service ranks 14th in PCMag survey

The Portland Tribune, Dec 2, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (4 Reader comments)

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We’re No. 14! We’re No. 14!

PCMag.com says Oregon’s high-speed Internet world is the 14th best in the nation. The state is behind such states as California, Nebraska and Oklahoma for its Internet service provide (ISP) speed.

The online computer guide reported Tuesday on its “Best ISPs in America” list that Nevada had the fastest ISP speed. New Mexico had the slowest.

In its third annual review, the magazine tested more than 200,000 home ISPs for speed and based its rankings on the real-life business and quality-of-life implications for fast or slow Internet connections.

PCMag.com found that Verizon’s FiOS fiber-optic connection was the fastest overall service, and Cablevision’s Optimum Online was the fastest cable ISP in the nation.

To uncover the nation’s best ISPs, PCMag used a custom-designed SurfSpeed application (a utility that grabs pages from several popular Web sites to measure actual Internet surfing speed) and pored through data from more than 17,000 profiles (unique IP addresses).

According to the rankings, Internet service in the West was the fastest, while the South had the slowest speed.

PCMag.com found that Oregon had a 59.6 percent broadband penetration across the state. The median price for monthly broadband access in Oregon was $40, according to the magazine.

Nevada had the highest number of people accessing the Web through broadband – 75.3 percent. It also had the fastest connections, and the median cost was about $39 a month.

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Reader comments

Re: Oregon’s broadband service ranks 14th in PCMag survey

Perhaps you should inform the readers that this is for home/consumer ISPs. I'm pretty sure the results are different when business ISPs are taken into account.

"Indy"

(email verified)

Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 02:07 PM

Editorial response:

Indy: Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it to the story.

Kevin Harden
Web editor

Re: Oregon’s broadband service ranks 14th in PCMag survey

Please note that DSL speeds in outerlying areas may be much slower than those residences that are very close to the local office. Also.... and something that may be more pertinent, Clearwire is now offering wireless broadband service throughout the metro area, including Wilsonville, Washington County and as far east as Gresham. Up to 6.0 Mbps service. Just became available 12/1/2008. Much cheaper service too!! $40 for 6 Mbps.

"Jim Clark"

(email verified)

Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 05:01 PM

Re: Oregon’s broadband service ranks 14th in PCMag survey

14th in the nation while the US ranks low when compared to some countries in Europe as well as Japan with their broadband speeds of 100Mbps and higher. We still have a ways to go...

"MoreFaster"

(email verified)

Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 05:15 PM

Re: Oregon’s broadband service ranks 14th in PCMag survey

I read on this article, http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/12/wimax_being_offered_in_portlan.html that Portland is releasing a new broadband internet that is supposed to increase efficiency of the internet (source is found at www.clear.com/?utm_source=bc). Should this be successful I think Oregon will quickly jump ahead in broadband service. In fact, I would imagine that other locations would start this concept as well, making the top spot for service a competitive goal.