August 22, 2011
The UK’s slowest broadband towns have been listed after broadband speed tests across the country were done by uSwitch.com
The Kent town of Cranbrook managed to set an average broadband download speed of just 1.32Mb which is around 5 times slower than the national average which is 7.5Mb.
Out of the top 20 (or should than be bottom 20) for slowest broadband speeds the counties of Kent & Sussex were home to 6 of the slowest broadband towns in the survey, with all of them having broadband speeds below 2Mb.
The results were gathered from people running broadband speeds tests and as such pr0bably mean there are other places with slower broadband, but from the 400,000 speed tests that were performed between May & July this year these were the findings.
The second slowest was Tregaron in Wales followed by Lavant which is near to Chichester.
These slow broadband speeds are on the UK governments agenda to get sorted, in Western Europe the UK has one of the slowest internet connections, way behind the average in France of 18Mb and Finland with 22Mb. The UK government want to have the fastest European broadband network by 2015, along with the £2.5bn investment in their fibre network being done by BT, the government have announced a £530m pot to help fund broadband out to rural areas and a further £300m in the future.
We can only look longingly at the average broadband speeds that South Korea and Japan offer which are 46Mb and 61Mb respectivly.
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July 28, 2011
Broadband speeds are still on the rise according to research by Ofcom. In the last 6 months they have found that the average broadband speed has increased by 10%.
In November/December the average broadband speed they found was 6.2Mb and in the latest broadband speed test results they show the average has crept up to 6.8Mb by May 2011.
The study and results also showed that along with the broadband speeds increasing the gap between the advertised broadband speed and actual broadband speeds people receive has also increased. Previously the average advertised speed back in Nov/Dec was 13.8Mb making the gap between advertised and actual 7.6Mb, howevere in May 2011 the average advertised broadband speed was 15Mb making a difference of 8.2Mb gap between advertised and actual average broadband speeds.
The study looked at 14 packages available form the 7 largest UK broadband providers who account for over 75% of UK residential broadband connections.
The Chief Executive of Ofcom, Ed Richards, said:
“The UK broadband market has transformed since Ofcom first published its research two and a half years ago.
By publishing this research, Ofcom has encouraged ISPs to invest in faster broadband networks; we are now seeing consumers increasingly move to higher rated services and enjoying genuinely faster speeds.
Consumers also have access to better broadband information, allowing them to decide which provider to use based on actual speeds they can achieve at home.
However, the research is still telling us that some consumers are not receiving anywhere near the speeds that are being advertised by some ISPs. Ofcom continues to urge the CAP and BCAP committees to make changes to their advertising guidance so that consumers are able to make more informed decisions based on the adverts they see.”
The differences between different ISPs average broadband speeds can be viewed below:
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April 27, 2011
The highest average broadband speed in the UK is available in Bradford, with the Yorkshire city being the only UK city to make it in to the top 100 cities around the world for average broadband speeds.
The results of the forth quarter results compiled by Akamai were released yesterday and it had Bradford sneaking itself into 99th place with an average broadband speed of 6.2Mb.
Of the 100 cities in the table, there was only 24 which were not in South Korea (South Korea had 16 in the top 100) or Japan (Japan had 60 int he top 100) with South Korea dominating the top of the list with the top 11 places and also having 15 of the top 20 fastest average broadband speed cities in the world.
The South Korean city of Taegu topped the list with an average broadband speed of 18.36Mb.
The director of market intelligence at Akamai, David Belson, told V3.co.uk:
“Sometimes a city can jump up if there’s an aggregation point in the area where networks meet, but that doesn’t appear to be the case in Bradford so it seems reasonable to conclude that it’s just that the broadband there is particularly good.”
He also told them that cities such as Southamption, Luton and Oldham were all not too far off the top 100 list but London was way down in around 400th position with an average broadband speed of just 3.5Mb.
Average broadband speeds in the UK are likely to continue to rise as BT rolls out it’s fibre optic broadband network (BT Infinity) across the UK and aims to cover around 66% of the UK by 2015.
In terms of the countries ranking, the UK rose one place to 26th showing that there is still plenty of room for improvement.
Users can test what speed their own broadband runs at by running a broadband speed test.
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March 10, 2011
Using WiFi to access the internet can slow your broadband speed by up to 40% according to a recent survey.
On average the broadband speed redcued by 30% when using WiFi to connect to the internet according to the results from the study that was done by Epitiro, internet analysts.
One of the big problems causing the reduced broadband speeds aside form the physical barriers that the WiFi signals need to travel through such as walls and floors is actually interference from other devices using the same channel or frequency.
Many wireless routers by default use the same communications channel which in urban areas can mean that numerous routers can be in a close proximity to each other and lead to connections dropping or slowing the service. Changing the channel of the router could help reduce this problem.
Another issue comes in the form of other electronic devices that use similar frequency range to the wireless router, this can include baby monitors, cordless phones and microwaves.
Ideally using a wired broadband connection would mean more stable, reliable and faster internet connections but many consumers are willing to take the reduced broadband speeds for the freedom and convenience that WiFi offers them.
In real terms, browsing webpages and checkign emails will not produce a great deal of speed difefrence, it is only when more bandwidth reliant applications or downloading of music or video that the speed difference is likely to be noticeable.
14,000 WiFi connections were tested for the study from November 2010 to February 2011. Users can use a free broadband speed test to check themselves if there is much of a difference between a wired and wireless internet connection at home by using our free broadband speed tester.
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March 8, 2011
Rightmove are to add the estimated broadband speeds of the 1 million homes that it has listed on it’s website.
 According to a story that was run by The Telegraph newspaper they have learnt that Rightmove and BT are teaming up so that the estimated broadband speed of a home is listed down against the basic stats of a house, such as the number of bedrooms, garden or garage.
Along with the estimated broadband speed to be listed on Rightmove they will also be listing if the property is covered or due to be covered by the new fibre BT Infinity network that is currently being rolled out across the country and will offer fibre optic broadband with a download speed of up to 40Mb. At the present time though coverage of the Virgin Media cable network is not being included which could adversely effect the listing of many properties that will only have the broadband speed listed to them that is availfable by a BT ADSL network which could be just 4Mb when in reality they could be receiving 50Mb broadband connections from Virgin Media.
Around 90% of properties for sale in the UK are listed on Rightmove so it has a huge importance to the property industry with many buyers using the portal when searching for potential new homes.
A source a Rightmove told The Telegraph:
“Broadband is becoming one of the most, if not the most, important considerations for prospective buyers. Many people fall in love with a home only to find out it can only get really slow internet. By listing broadband speed with all the other property details buyers will be able to weed out homes that don’t have high-speed access.”
Rightmove have also said that they are currently not in any sort of official partnership with BT.
We have long said that the broadband speeds could effect the sale of a house with houses with high speed broadband having an advantage over houses that have slower broadband connections. This latest step just goes to show how much importance broadband has on our daily lives and will only continue to grow in importance.
How long before adverts for homes change from: “4 Bed detached house with garage and conservatory” instead are reading “40Mb detached house with 4 beds and garage”.
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March 3, 2011
The average broadband download speed is less than half of the “up to” speeds that are advertised by some broadband providers.
Ofcom were submitting their findings to the Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee for Advertising Practice (BCAP) over the advertising of broadband speeds investigation that is being undertaken to try and make it clearer to consumers what broadband speeds they are likely to receive when signing up to an broadband package.
Ofcoms findings were mainly attached to broadband that is delivered via a phone line as this form of receiving broadband tends not to bring the potential of the advertised “up to” speeds. It was found that in November/December 2010 the average broadband speed was 6.2Mb which is less than half of the advertised broadband speed of 13.8Mb.
The study looked not only at copper based ADSL services but also fibre and cable services too. The copper based ADSL services are the ones which bring the biggest difference between advertised and actual broadband speeds. The average download speed for an advertised “up to” 20/24Mb ADSL broadband service which uses copper cable to deliver the broadband was just 6.2Mb, this is just 29sp% of the advertised up to speed. “Up to” 8Mb ADSL services produced an average broadband speed of 3.4Mb which is just 42% of the advertised “up to “speed.
A tiny 3% of customers on an “up to” 20/24Mb advertised broadband package received over 16Mb!
BT’s Fibre To The Cabinet service (BT Infinity) which uses fibre optic cable to the street side cabinet and then standard copper telephone lines to the customers house produced much closer speeds between the advertised “up to” and the actual speeds. BT advertises it’s BT Infinity service at “up to” 40Mb, the results of the broadband speed tests performed produced average broadband speeds of 31.1Mb which is 78% of the advertised speed.
Finally Cable services from Virgin Media which use fibre optic cable to the street side cabinet and then coaxial cable to the premises have advertised “up to” speeds of 50Mb broadband and the average download speed received was 46Mb and on average delivered between 90-96% of the advertised speeds.
Ofcom are suggesting that a Typical Speed Range (TSR) that is actually achievable to at least half of customers should be used when advertising broadband speeds.
Ofcom has produced a Typical Speed Range that it thinks broadband providers should use when advertising broadband speeds.
 What is positive to take from the results is that how much faster fibre broadband is and that it can bring much more stable and reliable broadband to customers.
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March 1, 2011
The advertising of “up to” broadband speeds is being looked at to be finally changed to offer more transparency to consumers.
“Up to” speeds have been the industry standard for broadband providers to promote their various broadband deals, these speeds advertised are usually theoretical headlines broadband speeds that no consumers are likely to receive unless they live right on the local telephone exchange.
The advertising of broadband speeds has been a consumer minefield for quite a few years and it is about time that it got addressed properly to make it much clearer for consumers. It was not uncommon to see “up to 8Mb” broadband packages advertised and consumers only receiving between 2-3Mb, far less than what many broadband customers had expected to receive.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has been advised by Ofcom’s Communications Consumer Panel (CCP) to bring an end to these misleading “up to” broadband speeds that are advertised by broadband providers.
A suggested solution from the CCP was for the minimum broadband speed for half of a broadband providers customers to be put on any advertising.
A suggestion by Which? was that the top speed that is available to at least 10% of their customers would be the one that is used in the advertising. Also along with these a typical speed range that is a realistic speed should also be stated so consumers get a far clearer picture. Often when consumers run a broadband speed test they feel like they have been mis-sold with their broadband package and it is time that this came to an end.
Ceri Stanaway from Which? said:
“One thing’s certain based on all the feedback we receive from consumers – the way broadband speed is currently advertised simply isn’t transparent enough and often leaves broadband customers feeling misled and shortchanged.“
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November 18, 2010
Virgin Media are launching it’s “Stop The Broadband Con” scheme that is aiming to change broadband providers advertising mis-leading “up to” broadband speeds.
 The reason Virgin are running this campaign will be because being a cable broadband provider they are the least affected by a big difference between their advertised broadband speeds and actual broadband speeds delivered to customers compared to standard DSL broadband providers.
The fundamental issues behind the campaign are valid and companies advertising broadband “up to” a certain speed yet in many instances delivering speeds less than half of this speed does make it very misleading to customers.
The fact that ultimately the campaign will be to benefit and promote Virgin Media as a broadband company who can deliver broadband speeds close to their advertised speeds means that the gesture and reasoning behind the campaign is hardly selfless but none the less, if it does help change the way that broadband providers advertise their services with misleading broadband speeds then ultimately it may work out good for the industry.
Virgin Medias executive director of broadband, Jon James, said:
“People are paying for superfast broadband but receiving a service stuck in the slow lane. Broadband providers need to stop advertising speeds that not a single customer can receive and we’re asking people to support our call for change by signing up to stopthebroadbandcon.org. Faster broadband means better broadband, whether you’re surfing the web, watching TV online or downloading music and UK consumers deserve superfast broadband they can trust, rather than having to rely on the fairytales and broken promises of current broadband advertising.“
The slight issue with the campaign is that Virgin Media still advertise their services as “up to” a certain speed, the stats suggest that on average they do deliver customers with around 90% of the advertised headline speed but again this by some would make their call for this campaign a bit flawed.
Stats from Ofcom found that in May 2010 that DSL broadband providers were delivering just 33% of the headline speed for advertised “up to” 20Mb or 24Mb services with a speed on average of just 6.5Mb.
The reason for this is that DSL providers use BT’s copper network to transfer data for broadband, the distance customers are form the local exchange and also the quality of the cable can affect the broadband speed hugely. Fibre optic providers such as Virgin Media do not receive as much loss in broadband speeds over these distances than those providers on DSL connections.
Richard Branson the founder of the Virgin Group, said:
“Staying connected is central to our lives and we all deserve broadband we can trust. I’m challenging all broadband providers to be honest with their customers and ask people to add their voice to the campaign by signing up to Stopthebroadbandcon.org.“
The easy way to check how fast your Internet connection is running at is to use our free broadband speed test tool, it will show you what your upload and download speed are running at.
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November 17, 2010
The slowest place for broadband in the UK is the villiage of Farningham in Kent with an average broadband speed of just 1.3Mb according to a recent broadband speed test study.
The research, done by broadband comparison site Top10.com over the last few months used data from over 100,000 broadband speed tests to draw up their list of top (or should that be bottom) 20 slowest broadband places in the UK. Only places that had at least 50 broadband speed tests performed over the 3 month period were used to be included in the analysis.
The most surprising place to be included on the list was the city of Worcester which came in in 20th position with an average broadband download speed of 2.01Mb. The fact that a city with a population of nearly 100,000 should have such slow broadband is a bit concerning as it is usually much more rural areas that are affected by slow broadband connections.
The top 20 list for slowest broadband places was as follows:
- Farningham, Kent – 1.3
- Duns, Borders, Scotland – 1.43
- Harbury, Warwickshire – 1.51
- Hethersett, Norfolk – 1.6
- Cockfield, County Durham – 1.63
- Brigg, Lincolnshire – 1.71
- Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales – 1.73
- Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland – 1.76
- Holsworthy, Devon – 1.77
- Ballymena, County Antrim – 1.8
- Hungerford, Berkshire – 1.81
- Amersham, Buckinghamshire – 1.84
- Ancaster, Lincolnshire – 1.88
- Dunoon, Argyll, Scotland – 1.9
- Pentre, Rhondda, Wales – 1.9
- Southmoor, Oxfordshire – 1.91
- Banchory, Aberdeenshire, Scotland – 1.95
- Grantham, Lincolnshire – 1.97
- Worcester, Worcestershire – 2.01
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October 18, 2010
Improvements in UK broadband has seen us climb up the broadband world rankings slightly to a position of 18th.
Out of the 72 countries that were studied the UK came in in 18th position, up from 25th place last year, but despite the increase in the world rankings we are still not one of the countries which are classed as “ready for tomorrow”.
The study done by Oxford University’s Said Business School for Cisco looked into the quality of the broadband and also the penetration of it. The quality aspect of the study looked at broadband connection speeds and the latency so basically how quickly data is transferred via the broadband connection.
The world top 10 for broadband is:
- South Korea
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- Iceland
- Switzerland
- Luxembourg
- Singapore
- Malta
- Netherlands
- United Arab Emirates
- Qatar
- Sweden
- Denmark
The UK didn’t fall into the category of countries which were “prepared for the online applications of tomorrow” but instead were in the “Comfortably enjoying today’s applications”. Last year there was only 1 country that was in the list of countries ready for applications of tomorrow, however this year it has dramatically risen to 14 countries.
With BT rolling out their own fibre broadband network (BT Infinity) we should hope to see the UK to continuing to go further up these lists and hopefully have a more “future proof” broadband network in place.
To highlight how important broadband speeds are (test your broadband speed with our free broadband speed test) the average global broadband speed in the last 3 years has increased by 49% from 3.2Mb in 2008, 4.8Mb in 2009 up to 5.9Mb in 2010.
Leading the way still is South Korea who can boast an average broadband download speed of 33.5Mb and they have 100% broadband penetration.
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