Hull has achieved the unwelcome accolade of having the slowest broadband of any town or city in the UK.
Average speeds in the area are just over 12 Megabits per second (Mbps). That's not even half the speed achieved in Middlesborough, the UK's fastest town, where people enjoy 34.46Mbps on average.
The uSwitch.com research looked at the actual speeds available in 42 towns and cities across the country, rather than focusing on the advertised top speeds (which as you know are unachievable for many).
The best - and worst - broadband providers revealed
Speeds around the UK
Residents of Hull recorded average download speeds of 12.42Mbps for a six-month period between August 2015 and February 2016. Aberdeen and Milton Keynes are the UK’s second and third slowest cities for broadband, achieving 15.67Mbps and 17.10Mbps respectively.
“The UK’s cities should be leading the charge when it comes to broadband speeds, yet just 22 cities have broadband users with average speeds of more than 24Mbps,” says Ewan Taylor-Gibson, broadband expert at uSwitch.com.
“With capital cities like London and Edinburgh not on that list, we should be asking what more can be done to encourage the adoption of superfast broadband now it’s so widely available.”
Here’s a rundown of the average download speeds across the country - where does your town or city stand?
|
|
City/Town |
Average download speed (Mbps) |
|
1. |
Middlesborough |
34.46 |
|
2. |
Belfast |
34.34 |
|
3. |
Brighton |
33.80 |
|
4. |
Swindon |
31.83 |
|
5. |
Nottingham |
30.43 |
|
6. |
Cardiff |
30.23 |
|
7. |
Bristol |
28.63 |
|
8. |
Huddersfield |
27.71 |
|
9. |
Plymouth |
27.33 |
|
10. |
Southampton |
27.03 |
|
11. |
Sunderland |
26.73 |
|
12. |
Liverpool |
26.60 |
|
13. |
Bournemouth |
26.57 |
|
14. |
Glasgow |
26.32 |
|
15. |
Leeds |
26.18 |
|
16. |
Birmingham |
25.79 |
|
17. |
Wigan |
25.52 |
|
18. |
Barnsley |
25.34 |
|
19. |
Leicester |
24.76 |
|
20. |
Derby |
24.54 |
|
21. |
Warrington |
24.52 |
|
22. |
Preston |
24.41 |
|
23. |
Manchester |
23.81 |
|
24. |
Stoke-on-Trent |
23.20 |
|
25. |
Reading |
22.73 |
|
26. |
Northampton |
22.64 |
|
27. |
Coventry |
22.48 |
|
28. |
London |
22.44 |
|
29. |
Swansea |
22.29 |
|
30. |
Bradford |
21.93 |
|
31. |
Peterborough |
21.79 |
|
32. |
York |
21.29 |
|
33. |
Newport |
21.24 |
|
34. |
Newcastle |
21.14 |
|
35. |
Edinburgh |
21.07 |
|
36. |
Norwich |
19.43 |
|
37. |
Doncaster |
18.38 |
|
38. |
Sheffield |
18.36 |
|
39. |
Wakefield |
17.49 |
|
40. |
Milton Keynes |
17.10 |
|
41. |
Aberdeen |
15.67 |
|
42. |
Hull |
12.42 |
How you can combat slow speeds
The Government and the telecoms industry claim ‘superfast’ broadband available to 90% of the country, with people in these areas supposedly able to access speeds of at least 24Mbps. However, of the 42 towns and cities where speeds monitored in this survey, only 22 recorded an average download speed of over 24Mbps.
The low average speeds suggest people aren’t making use of fibre broadband, either because they aren’t aware it is available or they are put off by pricing.
“The Government’s latest rollout figures reveal superfast broadband is now available to over 90% of homes and businesses in the UK and counting, with £1.7bn pledged to bring that figure to 95% by 2017,” says Taylor-Gibson.
“But our data suggest take up isn’t high enough – even in our biggest cities. With fibre ever more available, home broadband users need to know it’s there, and it needs to be priced right too.”
Find out more about fibre deals at broadbandchoices.co.uk