@foxyshadis
The major part of the population in Virginia is in the metro areas -- and it is much smaller that California -- that makes it easy to keep the averages up. In California there is a significant size population outside Bay Area and LA, and the state is vast, so the rural population is dragging the averages down -- that being said -- AT&T common packages offered (in California) are with 6Mb/s and 12Mb/s bandwidth -- the 6Mb/s is quite cheap and probably elected by a lot, which also drags the averages down -- so the picture is not quite clear if the averages are due to customers selecting lesser packages or the ISPs not being able to deliver -- Google fiber with 1Gb/s is about to roll out in some Californian towns.. so hope for more bandwith around the corner.