For some time now, South Korea has boasted the highest average internet connection speed in the world. In the second quarter of 2013, South Korean internet users surfed at an average speed of 13.3 Mbps, 53 percent faster than Americans whose connection speed averaged at 8.7 Mbps. To add a little perspective: at 8.7 Mbps, it takes a little less than an hour to download a 2-hour movie in HD quality (file size 3GB-4GB).

The United States is ranked 8th in the global speed ranking that is topped by South Korea, Japan and Switzerland, the latter having displaced Hong Kong from third rank. The global average connection speed was measured at 3.3 Mbps, after having passing 3 Mbps for the first time in the first quarter of this year.