[imagesouce: Getty Images]

We don’t ask for much in this country.

Power 24 hours a day (hey, we can dream), a government that serves its people, and an end to the spinning wheel that appears onscreen when the internet is lagging – three things we can all get behind.

Truth be told, for households fortunate enough to have internet access, we’re not doing too badly, ranking 97th out of 211 countries and territories in average national broadband speed.

According to the results of the annual Worldwide Broadband Speed League report released by Cable.co.uk, we’re actually quicker than the global average.

Before we get to a look at speeds across Africa, let’s see which countries came out tops:

Top spot goes to Lichtenstein, with a mean download speed just shy of 230Mbps. To put that into perspective, it would take under three minutes to download a high-res, 5GB movie.

Turning attention towards our neck of the woods, and sub-Saharan Africa:

48 countries were measured in second-slowest region Sub-Saharan Africa, 45 of which found themselves in the lowest 50% of countries in the table.

Going against the trend somewhat were Madagascar (18.00, 77th), Réunion (16.35Mbps, 82nd), and South Africa (14.04Mbps, 97th).

Meanwhile, last-place South Sudan (0.58Mbps, 221st), Equatorial Guinea (0.75Mbps, 218Mbps), Ethiopia (1.12Mbps, 214th), Somalia (1.14Mbps, 213th), and Sudan (1.35Mbps, 212th) all fell within the bottom ten countries in the world for network speed.

South Sudan’s download speed means it would take in excess of 19 hours to download a 5GB movie. Probably stick to the lower-res options, if I was them.

Here’s the global top 20:

For those who want to test the speed of their current connection, this tool does the trick.

Whilst hitting speeds in excess of 100Mbps would be nice, it’s not exactly necessary for the average user, including those who stream Netflix whilst scrolling through Instagram and watching DStv Now on a separate device, with downloads ticking over in the background.

We’ve all been there.

For those keen to start with uncapped, 10Mbps home fibre, RSAWEB can connect you starting from as little as R595 a month.

If you make haste and sign up by Friday (September 4), you’ll score one month free on all Openserve packages (live areas only), as well as a free Mini-UPS on all 30mbps and up packages.

A UPS (uninterrupted power supply) will keep you online, even during load shedding, which is a nice touch.

To see which fibre packages are available in your area, head here and type in your address. From there, you can select the speed and price package that best suits your needs.

[source:cable]