Internet Speed Growth Rate
Since 1990, hard disk storage capacity doubles in about every 1 year, computing speed doubles by about every 2 years. What about internet speed?
How Fast Net Speed Grow?
It's about 50% faster per year.
The formula is c*1.5^n
where n is number of years, and c is a constant.
Assuming in 1990 it's 1.2 kbits/s. We have:

Table[{1990 + x, 1.2*1.5^x}, {x, 0, 22}]
year | kbits/s |
---|---|
1990 | 1.2 |
1992 | 2.7 |
1994 | 6.1 |
1996 | 13.7 |
1998 | 30.8 |
2000 | 69.2 |
2002 | 155.7 |
2004 | 350.3 |
2006 | 788.2 |
2008 | 1773.5 |
2010 | 3990.3 |
2012 | 8978.2 |
2014 | 20200.9 |
2016 | 45452.1 |
2018 | 102267.0 |
2020 | 230101.0 |
Here's my internet speed history:
Year | Speed download•upload•ping | Connection Type | Company and Location |
---|---|---|---|
1991 | 1.2kbps•• | Modem 1200 (V.22) | |
1997 | 56kbps•• | 56k modem | |
1998 | 800kbps•• | Innetix wireless | San Jose (at Brainpower) |
1999 | 280kbps•• | alink.net ISDN | Mountain View (at Weborder) |
2002 | 880kbps•137• | Pacfic Bell ADSL | Palo Alto (home) |
2003 | 800kbps•240.1• | Cable modem 802.11b wireless | Sacramento (Paul K) |
2003 | 980kbps•112• | library, wireless | Palo Alto |
2006 | 980kbps•• | DSL | Mountain View (Danny's) |
2008 | 5.2Mbps•• | Cable | Camcast, Mountain View |
2009-09 | 8.4Mbps•4.6Mbps•17ms | Cable | Comcast. Mountain View |
2010-07 | 7.0Mbps•3.9Mbps•27ms | Cable | Comcast. Mountain View |
2012-04 | 9.8Mbps•4.2Mbps•15ms | Cable | Comcast. Mountain View |
2013 | 22Mbps• | Cable | Comcast. Mountain View |
2014 | 26Mbps••17ms | Cable | Comcast. Mountain View |
2017-06 | 28Mbps•4.6Mbps•30ms | DSL | AT&T internet |
2019-08 | 26Mbps•4.4Mbps•25ms | DSL | AT&T internet |
2020-07 | 106Mbps•5.75Mbps•9ms | Cable | Comcast. Mountain View |
All locations are in California, USA.
- kbps = 10^3 bits per second.
- Mbps = 10^6 bits per second.




see also: Computer Devices Bandwidth Table
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