Mountain West Home To Some Of The Slowest Internet In The Country

Originally published on July 1, 2019 10:36 am

Chances are good that you don't know exactly how fast your internet is. But Victoria Merinda said, "It's really one of those things that I think everyone should kind of know—how much internet they have."

She's a researcher with the website, highspeed-internet.com. It has an online tool that can determine just how fast or slow your internet is. Based on recent data it's collected, some of the slowest internet in the country is in Montana and Idaho. Merinda said there's a clear divide-most of the slower states are in the west, and a lot of the faster ones are on the east coast.

"We can't really live without the internet these days," she said. "It's how you get a job. It's how you watch TV. It's how you communicate with people outside your area. So, it's really quite surprising to see […] how slow their average internet is."

Merinda added that it's likely because of a lack of infrastructure in the more rural parts of our region.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Copyright 2019 Wyoming Public Radio. To see more, visit Wyoming Public Radio.