In today's digital world, internet speed has become crucial in determining the quality of our online experiences.
From streaming high-definition movies, downloading files, browsing websites, and working remotely, you need to have a fast and reliable internet connection that will help you to fulfill your online needs. However, across the globe, you will notice that internet connection speeds are different depending on the internet provider and level of advancement the country has reached.
For instance, if you want to download a movie like The Flash, it would take approximately 7 minutes to download it in the countries with the best Internet speed and at least 5 hours in countries with slower Internet.
This article will highlight how countries with fast and slow internet connections have been affecting user experiences. We will also explore more on the future advancement brought by Wi-Fi 7 in the process of downloading and streaming on online platforms.
Fastest Internet Speeds across the globe
Having access to the Internet in your place has become one of the basic units in modern life. Even though internet speed varies from country to country, we will look at countries with fast internet connections. ExpressVPN’s research revealed that countries with strong economies and highly developed infrastructure experience faster internet speed, while poorer nations face challenges when investing in the latest technologies.
Here is a quick analysis of internet speed by region. We will look at the speed of some countries described in the table below, starting from the fastest country as we descend in the list. This analysis is a sample test according to the estimated time it will take to download a movie, which lasts 2 hours and 30 mins.
| Ranking | Location | Speed in Mbps | Time taken to download the movie |
| 1. | Monaco | 319.59 | 7 min 18 sec |
| 2. | Singapore | 300.83 | 7 min 45 sec |
| 3. | Chile | 298.5 | 7 min 49 sec |
| 4. | Hong Kong | 292.21 | 7 min 59 sec |
| 5. | Mainland China | 280.01 | 8 min 20 sec |
| 6. | Switzerland | 278. | 8 min 20 sec |
| 7. | France
| 271 | 8 min 36 sec |
| 8. | Denmark | 270.27 | 8 min 38 sec |
| 9. | Romania | 260.97 | 8 min 56 sec |
| 10. | Thailand | 260.54 | 8 min 57 sec |
The countries above in the list have a high GDP per capita in 2023, which is why they have the fastest internet speeds. Therefore viewers in these countries enjoy the convenient way of downloading files with impressive speed.
Countries with the slowest internet speeds
Generally, suppose you explore countries where internet speed is slower in accessing internet services. What experience are you likely to get? In that case, the nation faces challenges that hinder delivering fast internet access to the residents.
Some challenges this country might face are stringent government regulations, lack of infrastructure investment, and lack of competition in the telecom sector, which contributes to the country's slow internet connection. Let's look at a few countries that experience slow internet speed.
<table>
| Ranking | Location | Speed in Mbps | Time taken to download the movie |
| 1 | Cuba | 7.21 | 5hr 23 min 37 sec |
| 2 | Turkmenistan | 8.84 | 4hr 23 min 57 sec |
| 3 | Afghanistan | 9.28 | 4hr 11 min 26 sec |
| 4 | Burundi | 9.62 | 4hr 2 min 33 sec |
| 5 | The Gambia | 10.63 | 3hr 39 min 30 sec |
| 6 | Syria | 11.06 | 3hr 30 min 58 sec |
| 7 | Sudan | 11.34 | 3hr 25 min 45 sec |
| 8 | Yemen | 11.44 | 3hr 23 min 57 sec |
| 9 | Mozambique | 11.51 | 3hr 22 min 43 sec |
| 10 | Tunisia | 11.88 | 3hr 16 min 24 sec |
</table>
From the table, we can see how long you can download a movie of 2hrs to takes you over 3 hours to download. For instance, a country like Cuba will take approximately 5 hours and 23 minutes to download the video. This makes residents living in the above countries need help with the slower connections limiting users from accessing content seamlessly.
Impact of Internet Speed on Viewers' Experience
Whether the internet speed is fast or slow, viewers often have some experiences when streaming or downloading files. With fast internet speed, viewers can stream high-quality videos without buffering issues.
While for slow internet services, viewers can struggle with issues like buffering, frequent pauses, and reduced video quality.
Wi-Fi 7 and the Future of Streaming and Download
When we look at the gradual changes in technology, the future of internet speed is believed to also advance from previous speeds. For now, we are in Wi-Fi 7, the successor of Wi-Fi 6; this shows how the transformation revolution of Wi-Fi has occurred. Wi-Fi 7 is projected to have a speed of up to 30 Gbps which is super fast compared to the previous Wi-Fi 6 speed, which had a maximum of 9.6 Gbps.
This means with Wi-Fi 7; users will enjoy accelerated speeds, immediate downloads, and be involved in ultra-high-definition streaming. Another advantage that comes with Wi-Fi 7 is an improvement in spectral efficiency and reduced latency. With the right widespread to this Wi-Fi in the future, it will be able to cover the internet needs of densely populated areas.
Conclusion
It is pretty promising to note that Wi-Fi 7 will bring more improvements that will benefit residents where technology is invested well and deployed. Therefore, areas where they experience slow Internet, will still need help to advance into Wi-Fi7 due to lack of infrastructure, poor technology advancement, and many other reasons.
We have seen the gap between residents living in fast and slow internet areas. To reduce the gap between these two and ensure all residents in the future have the same equality of internet speed to enjoy fast downloads and streaming capabilities by investing in internet infrastructures.
In the future, we hope all countries will be connected with Wi-Fi 7 and ensure everyone has equitable access to the Internet, which will lead to digital literacy across regions.
