Akamai today released their first ever "State of the Internet Report," which covers a number of topics including broadband penetration, broadband speeds, security, and more. Of particular note to me was their measurement of speed, with the report examining not only the fastest countries, but the fastest States. According to Akamai, they consider anything 2Mbps or greater to be "broadband," with anything 5Mbps or greater to be "high broadband."

Akamai's 2 and 5Mbps watermarks clearly obliterate that of our own FCC, which considers anything over 200kbps to be broadband (it has been an absolutely epic struggle to get them to change that to 768kbps). Still, the U.S. fares pretty well globally, coming in at seventh place overall, with 20% of connections surpassing 5Mbps.

More interesting perhaps is Akamai's rankings of the fastest (and slowest) U.S. States. According to Akamai, Delaware is the fastest state in the union, with 60% of users hitting the Akamai network at speeds greater than 5Mbps. Rhode Island, New York, Nevada and Oklahoma round out the top five.

"Given the relative size and population density of both states, as well as their proximity to major East Coast cities, it is not entirely surprising that they show such high levels of broadband connectivity," says the report. According to Akamai, seven states had less than 10% of their connections occur at speeds greater than 5 Mbps, with Hawaii coming in last place at 2.4%.

The report also ranks the slowest states, with Washington State getting the dubious honor as the state with the most connections at 256kbps or lower (21%). Virginia, Washington DC, Georgia and Illinois round out the top (or should I say bottom) five. Washington State actually saw a 151% spike in narrowband use, with Akamai unable to explain why.

There's plenty of additional information in the report (pdf) worth digging through (particularly for those interested in security), which I'll do further once I'm done packing up my things for the move to Delaware.