Having a fast broadband connection is now vital as our homes continue to get more connected.
Consumers are now becoming more reliant on faster broadband with many now using the web to watch TV and even control their homes with new smart technology.
However, despite huge investment in fibre, it seems many UK broadband users are still getting speeds which fall well below the expected average.
A new report from Which? has revealed that areas including parts of London are receiving sub standard connections which are so bad users may even struggle to watch online players such as Netflix.
According to Which?, parts of central London, Stroud, Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury were among the more surprising areas suffering from the worst broadband in the country.
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The consumer champion found that while rural Scotland and Wales still have Britain’s slowest average connection speeds, many local authority areas including in the capital and other urban areas are also enduring sluggish speeds.
The areas with the lowest speeds recorded overall included the Lake District, as well as parts of Scotland and Wales.
HERE’S SOME OF THE WORST SPEEDS
The Orkney islands (3Mbps), Allerdale (5.7Mbps), Shetland Islands (6.7Mbps), Argyll and Bute (7Mbps), Moray (7.1Mbps) and Ceredigion (7.5 Mbps) were the worst affected local authority areas.
Tower Hamlets (10.1Mbps), Westminster (10.8Mbps), Stroud (11.4Mbps), Tunbridge Wells (11.4Mbps), North East Derbyshire (11.5Mbps), and Canterbury (11.5Mbps) were also found to be lagging well behind other areas.
By comparison, mid-table Coventry experienced an average speed more than 50 per cent faster – at 16.3Mbps.
At the other end of the scale, Which? found that the fastest local authority area for broadband speeds was commuter borough Broxbourne with an average 32.5Mbps, which is considered superfast by both the Government (over 24Mbps) and Ofcom (over 30Mbps).
Other urban areas benefiting from fast internet include Crawley (32.3Mbps), Newark and Sherwood (30.0Mbps), West Dunbartonshire in Scotland (29.6Mbps), Watford (29.5Mbps), Rushmore (28.9 Mbps), Nottingham (27.6Mbps) and Cambridge (27.3Mbps).
HERE’S A GUIDE TO WHAT THESE SPEEDS MEAN
• Speed 11Mbps – time to download an HD movie – 52 minutes
• Speed 30Mbps – time to download an HD movie – 19 minutes
• Speed 100Mbps – time to download an HD movie – 5 minutes
The research, using data from Which?’s own broadband speed checker, shows how people face a lottery when it comes to broadband connectivity – a situation that must be addressed if everyone is to enjoy access to a good service.
The UK Government has pledged to ensure a bare minimum connection speed of 10 Megabits per second across the country.
Despite the growing availability of higher speed broadband, many people were still not taking up the fastest service available in their area, according to the regulator, Ofcom.
Only 45 per cent of premises were signed up to superfast broadband despite the service being available to more than double that number, it said.
Alex Neill, Which? Managing Director of Home Products and Services, said: “Having a good broadband connection is a basic requirement for many important everyday tasks, so it is unacceptable that millions of people around the country are still struggling to get what they need.
“The Government and the regulator must now press ahead with plans to provide a bare minimum connection speed of 10 Megabits in every household and make sure that no one is at a disadvantage because of where they live.”