The Real Internet Speeds of 2026: Global & US Data Report

275Mbps

US Avg. Fixed Wi-Fi Download

160Mbps

US Avg. Mobile 5G Download

18ms

Global Avg. Loaded Ping

62%

Gigabit Plans Underperforming

Methodology: I pulled 2.4 million independent speed tests run through our routing engine over the last 12 months. Instead of using ISP-hosted servers the way most big testing sites do—which basically just measures how fast data moves across the street—our tests measure end-to-end transit times. This gives us the hard numbers on what users actually experience when hitting real-world servers.

The Gigabit Illusion: Marketing vs. Physics

Fiber is everywhere now. The big cable companies are pushing DOCSIS 4.0 hard. If you read their marketing, you'd assume every house in the country is running a flawless 1,000 Mbps connection.

I looked at the actual telemetry data, and it tells a different story. 62% of households paying for Gigabit internet never hit speeds above 400 Mbps on their phones or laptops.

I call this the "Gigabit Illusion." The ISPs aren't lying about the pipe coming into the house. The problem is physics. Most people test their speeds and stream Netflix over Wi-Fi, not ethernet. Even if you buy an expensive Wi-Fi 6E router, basic overhead, walls, and your neighbors' routers clogging up the 5GHz channels create a hard ceiling on speed.

Data dashboard showing global internet baseline metrics, featuring dark mode telemetry.

Fig 1: VelocityVerify dashboard showing global median fixed network baselines.

Mobile Broadband is Catching Up Fast

The biggest change I've seen in the data this year isn't fiber. It's the massive rollout of mid-band 5G. Four years ago, home internet completely crushed mobile data. Today, that gap is almost gone.

Our dataset puts the median US mobile download speed at 160 Mbps. In cities like New York and Los Angeles, we regularly see mobile speed tests hit over 300 Mbps, easily beating older cable modems. For a lot of younger users I speak with, paying for fixed home broadband doesn't make sense anymore. They are dumping their cable companies and switching entirely to 5G home internet.

Trend line showing mobile 5G speeds accelerating rapidly and preparing to cross the trajectory of fixed broadband speeds.

Fig 2: Trajectory analysis of Mobile 5G vs Fixed Broadband median speeds (2022-2026).

Upload Speeds: The Final Bottleneck

While everyone focuses on download speeds, upload speeds remain the dirty secret of the cable industry. Fiber networks give you equal upload and download speeds, but our tests show the average cable subscriber is still stuck with a pathetic 25 Mbps upload limit.

Since everyone works remotely and syncs gigabytes of data to the cloud, these download-heavy plans are causing real problems. When users complain to me that their Zoom calls drop or their games lag at 8 PM, I almost always trace it back to a saturated uplink causing bufferbloat, not a lack of download speed.

What to Measure Now

The basic speed test is losing its value. Next year, raw download numbers won't matter for 95% of what we do online. We need to start looking at Latency under Load (Bufferbloat) and Jitter. I would trade a 1 Gbps connection with terrible packet delay for a rock-solid 100 Mbps connection any day of the week.

Frequently Asked Questions (Data Snippets)

What is the average internet speed in the US in 2026?

As of Q1 2026, the average fixed broadband download speed in the US is 275 Mbps, and the average mobile (cellular) download speed is 160 Mbps, driven heavily by mature 5G C-band deployments.

Why am I not getting gigabit speeds on my Wi-Fi?

The 'Gigabit Illusion' occurs because while ISPs deliver 1,000 Mbps to the modem, most consumer Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 routers cap real-world throughput at around 350 to 500 Mbps due to 5GHz channel congestion, distance, and hardware bottlenecks. To see true gigabit speeds, you must use a CAT6 ethernet cable plugged directly into your router.