For a short time there was a ray of hope for internet users in Germany. There has been a leap in speed for both broadband and mobile data. But this has now evaporated, as an international ranking shows.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s real 5G or fiber optics: In Germany, few people still have access to fast Internet. Other countries are significantly further ahead here, both in an international and in a European comparison. Ookla, the company behind the “Speedtest.net” site, which allows you to measure your Internet speed on your smartphone and PC, regularly evaluates millions of test results and publishes statistics. This bears the name “Speedtest Global Index‘, is divided into broadband and mobile Internet and shows the winners and losers in the speed ranking month by month.
The top ten in mobile and broadband internet
Here you can see the ranking of the top ten countries for mobile and broadband Internet – as well as Germany’s respective placement. The data shown is for the month of January 2023, previous placement is indicated with a red or green number or dash. Internet speed refers to the download rate and is measured in megabits per second (Mbps or Mbit/s).
Germany far behind again when it comes to the Internet
While two years ago we saw a jump in broadband internet speed in particular, Germany has since slipped again. In January 2023 it is in 46th place and can at least make up two places compared to the previous month. Things are looking a little better with mobile Internet, but here, too, people are on average slower than they were two years ago. Germany is currently in 32nd place – unchanged from the previous month.
However, the top ten countries Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands show that things are getting better in the European environment when it comes to mobile Internet speed. In the top 10 for broadband speeds are Monaco, Denmark and Spain. Overall, there are fewer countries in the top ten than two years ago. At that time, Romania, France, Liechtenstein, Hungary and Switzerland were also at the top.
Internet in Germany used to be faster
Just two years ago, there was a very clear, positive trend in Internet speed in Germany. Within a year, it was able to move up 17 places in mobile internet and thus reach position 26 in May 2021. Compared to February 2019, the download rate had doubled to 64 Mbit/s. In January 2023, however, it dropped again to 58 Mbit/s. As a result, Germany slipped to 32nd place in the ranking.
Germany was able to record a huge jump in broadband internet from February 2019 to March 2021 – from 68 Mbit/s to almost 116 Mbit/s. But the position had actually deteriorated due to even greater improvements in other countries. Now, in January 2023, things are looking even bleaker. Not only has Germany slipped down to 46th place (48th in the previous month), the download rate has dropped to just 82 Mbit/s.
Also interesting: Internet connections often do not deliver the promised bandwidth – but things are getting better
Global comparison
Ookla collects hundreds of millions of records each month, which are prepared for the Speedtest Global Index. As of January 1, 2019, each country must have at least 300 unique users to be included in the index.
The test can be accessed on almost all devices via the Speedtest.net website and is available as an app for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Google Chrome and apple tvoffered
The comparative index provides information about what the individual countries are doing for faster internet. Placement changes are indicated with down or up arrows and the number of places. The overview only shows the download speed, but if you click on a specific country, the upload speed also appears. You can also see how the speed has changed since Ookla started recording it.