NEED FOR SPEED

When it comes to internet speed, how much data you can download in one second comes down to one thing: bandwidth. To surf the web, check your email and update your social media, 25 megabits per second (Mbps) is enough. But if you want to watch 4K movies, live stream video or play online multiplayer games, you might need speeds of up to 100 megabits per second or more.

Your download speed depends on one main factor: the quality of the underground cables that link you to the rest of the world. Fibre-optic cables send data much faster than their copper counterparts, and your home internet is limited by the infrastructure available in your area. Jersey has the highest average bandwidth in the world. The little British island off the coast of France boasts average download speeds of over 274 megabits per second. Turkmenistan has the lowest, with download speeds barely reaching 0.5 megabits per second.

This computer was the world’s first web server at CERN in 1991

This partial map shows the paths through the internet in 2005