BroadbandNow said that networks continue to face some service degradation in "all corners of the nation," though the majority are dubbed "minor."
Those broadband networks are handling major new spikes in demand from the newly stay-at-home populace having to work, learn and play via their broadband connections.
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BroadbandNow on Wednesday (April 22) released its latest data from the broadband speed tests it is conducting across the top 200 most populous cities, as well as hundreds more in the rural areas where a broadband lifeline is even more important given the geographical distancing on top of the social.
BroadbandNow said that compared to last week, more cities are seeing dips of greater than 20% below the previous week's range.
For the week of April 12-18, a third of cities (67%) recorded upload speed decreases of 20% more than the range across the previous weeks in 2020, and up from 61 cities last week.
On the download side, 51 cities recorded greater than 20% decreases versus previous weeks in 2020.
The good news for rural is that download and upload speeds have remained fairly stable for three weeks in a row (at about 16 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up). The bad news is that they are still lower on average than the previous 2020 weeks' range.
Six cities have recorded non-minor speed decreases of more than 40% below their previous 2020 range--Baltimore; Jamaica, N.Y.; Oxnard, Calif.; Albuquerque; Boca Raton, Fla.; and New Orleans.
