Australia's internet is speeding up - but not as fast as it is elsewhere, a report says.
Average Australian connection speeds increased by 27 per cent in 2013 to reach 5.8 megabits per second (Mbps) in the December quarter, according to Akamai Technologies' latest State of the Internet report.
But the country dropped three places in global speed rankings to 44th, beaten by regional neighbours Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan.
New Zealand placed 45th with average speeds of 5.3 Mbps, while South Korean maintained its No. 1 ranking with average speeds of 21.9 Mbps.
Australia ranked 32nd in average peak connection speeds at 35.2 Mbps - an increase of 26 per cent on 2012. Hong Kong ranked first with an average of 68 Mbps.
The proportion of Australian users with "high broadband" connectivity doubled in 2013, reaching 9.7 per cent.
Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show more and more people are opting for plans offering theoretical maximum speeds of at least 24 Mbps.
The number of Australian signing on to such plans increased 27 per cent in 2013 to pass two million.
However, actual speeds are generally far slower, being affected by various factors such as modem quality and the distance of a user from the nearest internet exchange.
Broadband sped up impressively across the board in the Asia Pacific region, the Akamai report showed, while the global average connection speed grew 5.5 per cent to reach 3.8 Mbps.
There are eight megabits in megabyte, meaning a 24 Mbps connection would download about 180 megabytes of data per minute.
China remained the biggest source of computer attacks, the report showed, generating 43 per cent of all attack traffic.
The report draws on data compiled by Akamai's "Intelligent Platform", which handles up to 30 per cent of the world's internet traffic via more than 100,000 servers.
