PC Magazine has unveiled the latest data on broadband ISPs collected by their surfspeed application, which, unlike most speed tests measures the browsing speed of an ISP connection. When the application first launched you'll recall many of you took issue with PC Mag's data and their methodology, which they've since claim has improved and includes 236,739 tests from 6,449 users (methodology is here). The results are broken down by region (Northeast, West, Midwest South) and aren't too surprising, with Verizon FiOS taking top honors in the Northeast and West, while Time Warner Cable nabs the Midwest and Cox wins the South.

But before PC Magazine could even affix the crown to the top of Verizon's head for the "fastest ISP in the nation" honors, critics again began poking holes in PC Magazine's methodology. Speedtest outfit Ookla, which knows a thing or two about ISP tests, quickly blogged about how PC Magazine's test still fails in a number of major ways, and doesn't represent the performance of an ISP -- or even a modern web browsing experience:In fact, Ookla goes so far as to note that if you include a larger data set, Verizon's ranking as an ISP starts to look downright pedestrian:Of course Ookla's factoring in a huge swath of users on Verizon's DSL network (of which the vast majority of Verizon customers still are). So depending how you look at it, Verizon is either the fastest ISP in the United States, or doesn't even really rank due to their significant number of slower DSL users.