In a recent survey by Forbes.com, Atlanta finished top of the charts as America’s most wired city. This may come as a surprise to most people. Many people would typically guess that New York, Los Angles or even somewhere in Silicon Valley would wind up top of the list.

There are various reasons why Atlanta ended up top of the charts. The numerous communication giants in the city had a lot to do with it. AT&T have their regional headquarters located there as well as Verizon and many other Internet start-ups. It’s also home to the cable company Cox Communications. Another reason that Atlanta is the most wired places in the US is because they spent millions of dollars to wire up the downtown area ready for the Olympic games back in 1996.

When conducting the survey Forbes looked at the percentage of people with high-speed Internet access and the availability of public wi-fi spots around the city. It was found that 97.2% of the homes in Atlanta that had Internet access had done so using a high-speed connection in November.

An obvious second place went to Seattle who finished one place higher than they had the previous year. Home to the software giant Microsoft this result failed to cause any surprise. San Fransisco came in fourth for the second time running. Both places scored highly by having numerous wi-fi hot spots all over the city. Due to their lack of broadband users their overall scores were effected.

Los Angeles wasn’t as lucky this year. They suffered the largest drop, falling from 11^{th place} down to 27^th. The entertainment capital really lacked in the broadband access category, which greatly effect it’s ranking this year.

All across America new hot spots and the availability of broadband increase and change daily. Often the local companies influence how wired a city is. Many Americans still reply on internet dial up phone connections to get online.

A new bill prosed by Rep. Edward J. Markey could radically change the list in 2009. The new “broadband census” asks that the FCC is to collect more detailed information on the number of broadband users across America along with their zip codes. This will allow for more accurate data to be collected in the future and as a result more accurate data will be used in next years Forbes “Most Wired Cities in America” survey.