The fastest broadband providers

A new Ofcom report has revealed which broadband providers offer the fastest speeds.

Average UK broadband speeds have increased to 14.7 Megabits per second (Mbps), up 64% on May 2012, the latest research from Ofcom has revealed.

The report shows that the average broadband speed has more than quadrupled since Ofcom first began publishing information in November 2008 when speeds only just reached 3.6Mbps.

The study, conducted in May, included the latest ‘superfast’ broadband deals now on offer from Virgin Media and BT.

Superfast packages now account for 19% of residential broadband connections, up from 14% in November 2012 and more than double the 8% it was a year ago.

Increasing speeds

Ofcom reckons that the increasing average speeds are a sign that more of us are willing to move suppliers to ensure that we get the fastest possible deal.

It pointed out that while 68% of users were on packages with advertised speeds of up to 10Mbps in May last year, that figure has rocketed to 86% this year.

That’s not just a result of us all switching over to superfast deals though, as Ofcom highlights plenty of users have seen their broadband speeds improve as a result of network upgrades that barely cost us anything.

But people are also choosing to move to faster fibre packages. BT reported an increase of 550,000 customers by the end of March 2013 bringing its total fibre customers to 1.3 million.

In May 2013 the average fibre-based speed was 43.6Mbps, up by 38% over the year.

The fastest broadband suppliers

Ofcom studied 14 different broadband packages in the report – six normal broadband deals and eight superfast packages. Below are the average download speeds for the non-superfast services.

Karooo achieved the best peak time speed in the study getting up to 10.6Mbps.

At the other end of the scale, Sky customers experienced a significant drop during the busy period between 8 and 10pm.

Here’s how the superfast packages performed.

So the Virgin Media package promising speeds of up to 120Mbps is in fact the fastest around, despite some pretty significant drop-offs from its maximum.

In fact, when it comes to superfast broadband, Virgin Media customers are likely to have speeds closer to what’s advertised than BT customers across the board.

Rural gap

The gap between rural and urban broadband speeds has widened with a difference of 16.5Mbps in May 2013 compared to a difference of 9.5Mbps in May 2012.

However rural areas are catching up with speeds that are increasing at a faster rate than elsewhere. Rural speeds experienced a 141% growth in average speed from May 2012 to 2013 while urban areas only grew 95%.

The Government has made a commitment to provide funding to improve broadband in rural areas. It aims for 95% of UK premises to have access to superfast broadband by 2017 and that a minimum speed of 2Mbps is available to all.

How does your broadband perform against its advertised speeds? Is there a noticeable drop off in speeds at peak times? Is speed the main factor when choosing a broadband package? Let us know your thoughts in the comment bow below.

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This article has been updated

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