New research shows Brits in some parts of the UK are struggling with 135 times slower broadband speeds than others.
According to uSwitch, Williamson Road, in Romney Marsh, Kent, has the slowest broadband connection in the UK, offering an average speed of just 0.54Mbps. At such a slow speed, it would take up to 19 hours to download a two-hour film.
Brits living on Sandy Lane in Cannock, Staffordshire, which boasts the fastest speeds in the UK at 72.86Mbps, are however fortunate enough as downloading a two-hour HD film will take them just eight minutes.
The speed test data collected by uSwitch was based on more than one million speed tests run by broadband users over six months.
The second worst street is Great Fen Road, in Soham, Cambridgeshire, with average speed of 0.547Mbps and Styles Close, in third is Luton with 0.8Mbps.
Meanwhile, Stockfield Road, in Yardley, Birmingham, and Aigburth Drive, in Liverpool offers second and third fastest speeds of 71.37Mpbs and 71.2Mbps respectively.
The results also pointed out that overall, twice as many streets in the North of the UK are enjoying faster speeds than those in Southern counterparts. Scotland is home to six of the fastest streets, including the aforementioned top performer, and just two of the slowest.
“On the UK’s slowest street broadband speeds are so sluggish you could fly to the Bahamas and back again in the time it takes to download a film,” Ewan Taylor-Gibson, a broadband expert at uSwitch.com, said.
He revealed that the most common causes for slow broadband include the user’s distance from the nearest exchange or issues within the properties themselves.
“Wireless connections can be affected by the thickness of walls, for example, but your broadband provider can usually offer a solution if that’s the case,” Taylor-Gibson added.
“Superfast broadband is now available to more than three quarters of the UK, but nearly a third (31 per cent) don’t realise they can get it. We looked at which of the 30 slowest streets had superfast availability and, interestingly, 37 per cent of them do, but residents have obviously chosen not to take up superfast services.”
