What it All Means

SurfSpeed lets you compare your results to those of other people in your zip code, state, and country. It even lets you drill down by time period, ISP, and connection type. At the same time, it sends data to us for this story.

Keep in mind, when it comes to the speeds reported in this story, SurfSpeed takes into account the complete, real-world download time of a Web page to a browser. We're not saying your own ISP's claims of double-digit megabit-per-second (Mbps) throughputs or more are false. But those are marketing numbers, based on direct downloads from their own servers, using some abstract math like the number of users divided by the theoretical line speed. The numbers in the SurfSpeed tests compare everything you get in the download of a Web page, not just a single, contiguous file, so the numbers are smaller than the data-rate numbers quoted by your ISP. They provide an example of the real-world throughput you're experiencing when you browse and with speeds comparable to what others customers of the same ISP would get.

To help create a more complete picture, we also include the ISP Speed Satisfaction rating from our 2009 Reader Satisfaction survey. (Updated results for 2010 will be available late this summer.) In addition, we'll show you what people are paying on average for their broadband connection and what percent of eligible households has installed broadband, thanks to Centris, a research firm that gathers extensive data on the consumer purchase preferences and behavior for voice, video, and data services.

We report SurfSpeeds in Kilobits per second (Kbps) and Megabits per second (Mbps) since these are the units of measurement used for network throughput. A Kilobit is 1,000 bits and a Megabit is 1,000,000 bits or 1,000 Kilobits. File sizes, on the other hand, are typically reported in bytes instead of bits (measured in multiples of 1,024) and this can often cause confusion. The abbreviation for bytes is a capital B and for bits is a small b. One byte is eight bits.

To understand the difference, consider this example: Downloading a 10 megabyte (10 MB) file at 5 Megabits per second (5 Mbps) will take 16 seconds (10 MB equals 80 Mb (10x8=80) and 80 Mb traveling at 5 Mbps will arrive in 16 seconds (80/5=16)).

It's important to note that these numbers are from PCMag readers, not the entire spread-out population. The numbers here are a guide to help you pick an ISP, but they are not an absolute rating of the speeds you'll get from your local ISPs. This assumes that you even have a choice when it comes to picking broadband; we know not everyone does. (In our 2009 Reader Satisfaction survey, one in four respondents said their ISP was the only broadband ISP available to them.) That said, on the following pages, you'll find out which major broadband ISP in our tests provides the fastest browsing experience, both across the country and in the four major regions.