Nebraska Is in the Top Five for Business Broadband, But Lags in Residential Broadband Speeds
By Anne Byers, Nebraska Information Technology Commission
With an average maximum committed information rate downstream speed of 81.7 Mbps and upstream speed of 77.4 Mbps, Nebraska ranks behind only Washington, Colorado, and Utah according to Dec. 2016 FCC Form 477 Data. Our neighboring state of Iowa ranks 6th in business downstream speeds and 8th in upstream speeds, demonstrating that both Nebraska and Iowa have the broadband necessary to support area businesses and startups which make up the growing Silicon Prairie. The following graph and table show average maximum contractual business speeds for Nebraska and our neighboring states.
But does Nebraska have a business-residential digital divide? Nebraska’s average maximum advertised residential download speed of 26.96 Mbps ranks 44th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nebraska’s average advertised residential upload speed of 11.87 Mbps ranks 27th but lags the average download speeds of all of our neighboring states except Wyoming. See the following graph and table.
