ISPs improve delivery of the Internet speeds you pay for

— -- Broadband providers are doing a better job of delivering to homes the Internet connection speeds they advertise, a new federal report says.

In the Federal Communications Commission's second annual "Measuring Broadband America" report, to be released today, the agency found that Internet service providers (ISPs), on average, delivered 96% of their advertised download speeds during peak hours, defined as 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time. That's up from 87% for download speeds in the first report last year. ISPs delivered 107% of advertised upload speeds, up from 103% last year.

All types of home broadband delivery technology — cable, DSL and fiber optic — showed improved performance. Fiber led the way by delivering, on average, 117% of the advertised speed in prime time, up from 114% in 2011. Cable improved to 99%, up from 93%. DSL rose to 84% from 82%.

Not only were ISPs providing more consistent, faster broadband service, but consumers were opting for pricier, faster connections. The average consumer in the survey of about 6,200 U.S. homes increased their service to an average download speed of 14.3 megabits per second (Mbps), up 30% from last year.

The improved broadband performance "is good news for consumers and the economy, but we need to keep pushing for faster broadband speeds and greater capacity," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "Bandwidth abundance is essential to driving innovation and unleashing the benefits of broadband, including increased education, health care and job-creation opportunities."

In addition to overall improvement, the report found a narrowing of the gap between worst- and best-performing ISPs.

Better connectivity is part of the FCC's National Broadband Plan to stimulate the economy. Its goal is at least 100 million homes with affordable access to download speeds of at least 50 Mbps by 2015.

Despite the improvements, "The Cost of Connectivity," a separate new report from non-partisan research group the New America Foundation, finds that U.S. consumers typically pay more for slower broadband than people in other world cities. Hong Kong residents pay about $35 a month for 500 Mbps service, while people in New York and Washington pay a similar bill for broadband typically 20 times slower.

Regulators may need to find ways to stimulate competition, says Benjamin Lennett of the group's Open Technology Institute. "All the applications that could be extremely beneficial are lost if we are still operating at 10 to 15 years behind what other countries and cities have available."