FCC testing finds fastest broadband speeds in D.C., N.Y. areas

Already, 150,000 people have taken the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband speed test and the results so far show that the fastest download and upload speeds are in the Washington and New York areas.

Now, this isn’t an exact science and many critics have called out the FCC’s broadband test applications for widely varying results between two services that provide the upload and download tests. The FCC said in a blog post Wednesday that it plans to broaden its testing technology, beyond the service offered by Ookla and M-Lab (run by Google).

“The two applications are among the most popular on the Internet and the FCC hopes to make available additional testing platforms in the future,” wrote Jordan Usdan, a lawyer and an adviser for the FCC’s Broadband Task Force.

Because the test is voluntary, it's difficult to get an accurate picture of speeds in certain areas.

But the FCC noted some interesting results so far.

In Virginia, Maryland, New York and Massachusetts, average download speeds were 11.6 to 13.6 megabits per second. Average upload speeds were highest in the Washington area: around 3.6 to 4.3 Mbps.

The greatest number of test-takers were from California (no surprise given the state's population and that it's home to Silicon Valley). But their speeds were less impressive: Average downloads of 10.1 to 11.5 Mbps; uploads of 2.1 to 2.6 Mbps.

Take a look at how the rest of the country compares with these maps created by the FCC:

Average upload speed:

Average download speed:

Number of broadband tests by state: