Carolina connections

Forbes recently issued a survey showing that Raleigh, N.C., is tops on its Most Wired Cities list.

Raleigh is the kind of tech-forward city that, innovative as it is, often gets overlooked in favor of San Francisco, San Jose or Seattle. But this year the North Carolina capital passed its flashier rivals to grab the No. 1 spot on Forbes’ Most Wired Cities list,” Forbes noted.

Forbes developed the ranking using three basic measures: broadband penetration, broadband access and plentiful wi-fi hot spots.

“Taken together, the factors point to a populace that readily uses high-speed Internet inside and outside the home,” according to Forbes.

The publishing company compiles the list by computing the percentage of Internet users with high-speed connections in a particular city and the number of companies providing high-speed Internet in that area. Forbes also uses Scarborough Research to meausre the number of public wireless Internet hot spots.

TOP 10 MOST WIRED CITIES
1. Raleigh, NC (Last Year, 15)
2. Atlanta, GA (Last Year, 2)
3. Seattle, WA (Last Year, 1)
4. San Francisco, CA (Last Year, 11)
5. Washington, D.C. (Last Year, 3)
6. Colorado Springs, CO (New This Year)
7. Denver, CO (Last Year, 8)
8. Baltimore, MD (Last Year, 10)
9. Orlando, FL (Last Year, 4)
10. Portland, OR (Last Year, 14)