Akamai just released their latest "State of the Internet Report," (registration required) which every quarter covers a number of topics including broadband penetration, broadband speeds, security, and more. It's of particular interest to our readers, as the company gathers the data from clients that have hit their 56,000-strong global content server network, tracking 487 million unique IP addresses from 234 countries.

According Akamai's latest data, the United States continues its role as a mediocre player in the broadband space, ranking sixteenth overall in average broadband speeds. The United States fares better in terms of average maximum broadband speeds, coming in eighth place at 16 Mbps. Says Akamai of this new measurement:Akamai's top 100 list of the fastest city contains twelve cities in the United States, seven of which are in California. The fastest broadband city in the U.S. is Monterey Park, California. 61 of the top 100 fastest cities are in Japan. Masan, South Korea was declared the fastest city with an average speed of 40.56 Mbps.

The study notes that the average speed of a broadband connection in the United States is 4.7 Mbps, an average speed exceeded in 22 States. Delaware continues to be the State with the fastest average connection at 7.6 Mbps, while Alaska continues to be the slowest at 2.7 Mbps. Akamai notes that while 9 of the top 10 states with the highest levels of high broadband adoption are on the East Coast, only three East Coast states rank in the top 10 in terms of highest percentages of connections to Akamai at speeds over 25 Mbps.