The US isn't close to having the fastest average LTE speeds - but the news isn't all bad
In some respects, US consumers have it good when it comes to mobile phone service.
Competition among the carriers has generally lowered prices and given new life to the unlimited plan.
But when it comes to data speeds, things could stand to improve - by a lot.
When it comes to the average 4G LTE download speeds in various countries around the world, the US ranks 59th, according to a recent report on "The State of LTE" from OpenSignal, which has been charted for us by Statista. Mobile subscribers here see speeds of around 15 Mbps on average, which is about a third of the throughput in first-place Singapore, where users get 45.6 Mbps on average.
Of course, the US is much larger and more geographically diverse than most of the countries in the top 10 of OpenSignal's rankings. And despite its size, the US still ranked fourth in OpenSignal's report in terms of 4G availability.
Still, it seems clear there's room for mobile internet in the US to get faster, particularly in rural parts of the country. Time will tell if the forthcoming switch to 5G networks will provide that boost.
