The UK is still in the slow lane for broadband

We’ve had some more bad news this morning on how the UK is struggling in the fight for speedier surfing and streaming, with a new report from Which showing that many parts of the country are still lagging behind with broadband speeds.

The consumer watchdog highlighted the fact that there are 11 regions across the UK which fail to meet the government’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) of achieving a minimum speed of 10Mbps.

That includes Ryedale, Purbeck, West Devon and Powys. And in Scotland, Highland along with the Orkney Islands and Shetland are the slowest broadband areas in the UK going by data drawn from countrywide broadband speed tests via Speed Checker Ltd.

The absolute slowest average speed was recorded in the Orkney Islands which only achieved downloads of 6.3Mbps. Shetland fared a little better on 8.4Mbps, with the Highland area on 8.8Mbps.

Life in the fast lane

At the other end of the scale, Tamworth was top of the table with an average of 30.4Mbps, with Reading in second place, followed by Adur, then Enfield and Dundee.

Alex Neill, Managing Director of Home Services at Which, commented: “Far too many households across the UK are suffering from slow broadband speeds, which can stop you being able to carry out essential daily tasks.”

He added that the report would “help to further highlight where problem areas are across the UK, putting pressure on government and providers to help everyone get a good broadband connection.”

Which has seriously been banging the drum concerning poor broadband in the UK this year, with the revelation back in April that the majority of folks have experienced broadband connection problems in the past year.

Back in the spring, the consumer watchdog also launched its own speed checker, urging people to benchmark their broadband speeds and complain to their ISP if they’re not up to scratch.

Via: BBC