Source: Speed Matters

If you're looking for fast Internet connections, it might be time to book a ticket to Japan, South Korea or Sweden. A report sponsored by the Communications Workers of America shows that the U.S. continues to lag other industrialized countries when it comes to broadband Internet, ranking 28th with an average download speed of 5.1 megabits per second.

That compares to South Korea which boasts an average download speed of 20.4 Mbps and Japan which tallied an average speed of 15.8 Mbps.

Meanwhile, Washington continues to fall behind other states, according to the report. The home of Microsoft, Amazon.com, T-Mobile and other high-tech companies registered a disappointing average speed of 6.2 Mbps, according to the report.

That placed Washington in 16th place among more than 50 states and territories, down from the 6th slot last year when the average download speed came in at 6.5 Mbps.

Oregon was even worse, falling from 15th to 30th place with an average download speed of 4.8 Mbps. (Full report here).

Delaware had the best broadband connections with an average download speed of 9.9 Mbps, followed by Rhode Island (9.7 Mbps) and New Jersey (8.8 Mbps). Alaska, Montana and Puerto Rico were at the bottom of the list, with download speeds of less than 3 Mbps.

The Communications Workers of America -- which has published the Speed Matters report for a few years -- is pushing  the U.S. government to adopt a national broadband policy in order to spur job creation and improve education, health care and public safety.

By next year, it wants high-speed infrastructure to support 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. That could support applications such as video streaming, medical record file sharing and remote education.

The labor union says at the current rate it would take the U.S. about 15 years to catch up to the Internet speeds now found in South Korea. 

The country and the state are taking steps to push broadband efforts ahead.

In a report last month, Gov. Chris Gregoire's Broadband Advisory Council wrote that despite some community-based broadband efforts "many rural areas and some demographic groups of Washington lack meaningful or affordable access to broadband services."

The council recommended that the state pursue federal funds to bring broadband to anchor institutions, create a broadband map and encourage private-public partnerships to maximize coverage. Here's a look at the broadband breakdown from the Speed Matters report.