R.I. slips to second in Internet speed ranking

PROVIDENCE – Delaware dislodged Rhode Island from the top spot on the list of states with the fastest Internet speeds, according to the Speed Matters survey commissioned annually by the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America union.
Although Rhode Island lost its top ranking after two years, the difference between the top two states was slight. The survey results found the average download speed was 9.9 megabits per second (mbps) in Delaware. It was 9.8 mbps in Rhode Island, up from 9.3 mbps last year.
The two smallest states in the union also had a significant lead over the next three-fastest: New Jersey (8.9 mbps), Massachusetts (8.6 mbps) and New York (8.4 mbps). The average Internet speed for the nation as a whole was 5.1 mbps. Even the speediest states lagged behind most other countries, however.
Rhode Island ranked 25th out of all 50 states when it came to the number of residents who used the Internet in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 653,000 of Rhode Island’s roughly 1 million residents over the age of 2 used the Internet either at home or somewhere else in 2007. •