An update of fixed and mobile/cellular broadband internet upload and download speeds, as well as transmission latency, across the Caribbean region, as at June 2021
A continual preoccupation, and frequent source of frustration, for so many of us, is the Internet service we are experiencing. As more of our lives is facilitated by the internet, we have become increasingly intolerant of the times when we are experiencing poorer-than-normal service. Depending on the situation, a common go-to resource is an online speed test service, which tends to corroborate or provide some insight what has been occurring.
We provide some insight into the internet transmission speeds that is being experienced across the Caribbean region by examining the internet speed test results that were recorded during the month of June 2021.
Methodology
The speed test results that are examined in this article are from the well-known platform, Ookla, which manages Speedtest. Monthly, Ookla publishes the Speedtest Global Index, in which it tracks and compares internet speed data from around the world. The per country speed test results that are made publicly available are the following:
- Fixed broadband upload speed in Megabits per second (Mbps)
- Fixed broadband download speed in Mbps
- Fixed broadband latency in milliseconds (ms)
- Mobile broadband upload speed in Mbps
- Mobile broadband download speed in Mbps
- Mobile broadband latency in ms.
Speedtest leverages a vast testing infrastructure with over 10,000 servers in more than 190 countries, ensuring users will always be able to test to a local server regardless of where they are located. By having multiple servers in every country and major city, Speedtest ensures an accurate view of performance without requiring long, or even international transit, to perform a test. As a result of this testing infrastructure and the enormous number of tests taken using Speedtest, Ookla has no need to extrapolate data to fill in gaps because its applications collect information from every imaginable location and every type of device at all hours of the day.
The results that are published per country must have at least 300 unique user results for mobile or fixed broadband to be ranked in either category. For June 2021, mobile/cellular speed test results were published for 137 countries, whilst for fixed broadband, 181 countries were included, with 16 Caribbean countries among them, as reflected in Exhibit 1.
Fixed broadband internet results
For the 16 Caribbean countries included in the Global Speedtest Index, the fixed broadband internet speeds varied widely, as shown in Exhibit 2. Download speeds ranged from 6.80 Mbps in Cuba, to 114.40 Mbps in Barbados, and 43.87 Mbps when averaged across the entire group of countries. Similarly and with regard to upload speeds, the slowest and fastest speeds were recorded in Suriname, at 6.05 Mbps, and in Barbados, at 61.65 Mbps. Across the Caribbean grouping, the average upload speed was 21.07 Mbps.
Exhibit 2 also provides insight into transmission latency, which is the time it takes, in ms, for data to be transferred between its original source and its destination. The latency recorded ranged between 13 ms in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, and 147 ms, in Cuba. Although there appears to be a general trend that latency decreases as transmission speeds increase, a few anomalies were recorded, particularly in Saint Lucia, where the latency recorded was 61 ms.
Mobile/cellular broadband internet results
In June 2021, Ookla recorded mobile/cellular broadband results for only six Caribbean countries, which would have met the minimum number of unique data points (300) for inclusion. The findings are presented as Exhibit 3. Mobile/cellular download speed ranged from 19.44 Mbps in Haiti, to 40.41 Mbps in Jamaica, and averaged at 32.30 Mbps across the sample group. With respect to upload speeds, the slowest speed was recorded in the Dominican Republic, at 9.25 Mbps, and the fastest speed, 14.62 Mbps, was recorded in Suriname. Across the six countries, the average upload speed was 11.52 Mbps.
With regard to transmission latency, generally, the variation for five of the six countries was not very wide – just about 12 ms, between 25 ms, in Trinidad and Tobago, and 37 ms in the Dominican Republic. The exception was Cuba, where a latency of 105 ms was recorded, which affected the average across the six countries: 43 ms.
A few observations
Generally, and across most Caribbean counties, broadband internet speeds are increasing, especially download speeds. In most countries there is a wide disparity between upload and download speeds, with the former being less than half the latter. Although the Caribbean region is considered net consumer of bandwidth, that is, we download considerably more content that we upload, the explosion in the use of online platforms, such as for meetings, education, webinars and other activities, means the needle is shifting, which require faster upload speeds.
It is also interesting among the six countries for which fixed and mobile/cellular broadband results were published, in the majority of instances – the exception being Trinidad and Tobago – faster download speeds were recorded for the mobile/cellular broadband service, than for the fixed broadband service, as shown in Exhibit 4.
This phenomenon may merit further study, but key reasons for this disparity could be the difference between how mobile/cellular broadband service plans, versus those for fixed broadband, are packaged. For mobile/cellular broadband service, the plans tend to differ by data caps, whilst for fixed broadband service, the plans tend differ by transmission speeds. When a fixed broadband customer runs a speed test, the speeds that could be realised inherently, are dependent of the plan that has been purchased. On the other hand, and for a mobile/cellular broadband customer, the transmission speeds that can be achieved would be dependent on, among other things, the technology (3G, 4G, LTE, etc.), and how the carrier has configured the network.
Image credit: PublicDomainPictures (Pixabay)
