U.S. ISPs studied by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) are delivering, on average, 97 percent of advertised download speeds during peak periods.

On average, during peak periods, DSL-based services delivered download speeds that were 85 percent of advertised speeds, cable-based services delivered 99 percent of advertised speeds, fiber-to-the-home services delivered 115 percent of advertised speeds, and satellite delivered 137 percent of advertised speeds.

This compares to July 2012 results showing largely the same performance levels: 84 percent for DSL, 99 percent for cable, and 117 percent for fiber.

The latest tests, conducted in September 2012, obtained materially similar results from the previous report, with one exception. Frontier Communications improved its performance 13 percent from the last reporting period.

Consumers have also continued their migration to higher speed services. In the latest report, the FCC recorded download speeds as high as 75 Mbps, for the very first time.

As observed in the July 2012 Report, the majority of ISPs continue to closely meet or exceed the speeds they advertise, the report says.

The average speed people buy (what people are buying, not what is sold) is now 15.6 Mbps, representing an average annualized speed increase of about 20 percent.

The FCC also found that during peak periods, 90 percent of ViaSat (News - Alert) consumers received 140 percent or better of the advertised speed of 12 Mbps.

The study examined service offerings from 14 of the largest broadband providers, which collectively account for well over 80 percent of all U.S. residential broadband connections.

In specific tests designed to mimic basic web browsing, the total time needed to load a page decreased with higher speeds, as expected. However, this performance increase largely diminished beyond about 10 Mbps, where latency and other factors begin to dominate and limit performance.

In fact, consumers are unlikely to experience much, if any, improvement in basic web browsing from increased speed, such as moving from a 10 Mbps broadband offering to a 25 Mbps offering.