Streets in slow lane where TV download takes 8 hours
BRITAIN’S worst broadband street has been revealed as experts say its slow internet would mean it could take eight hours to download a 45-minute TV programme.
The UK’S worst street has been named as Thorpe Lane in Trimley St Martin, Suffolk, where the internet is 260 times slower than in the fastest street – Benford Avenue, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.
Comparison site uswitch.com found that downloading a two-hour HD film on Netflix on Thorpe Lane would take 21 hours, while a 45-minute HD TV show would take nearly eight hours, at speeds of 0.68 megabits per second (Mbps). By contrast in the fastest street, average speeds peaked at 177.01Mbps over the past year, meaning the twohour film would take less than five minutes to download and the TV programme just 109 seconds.
The data is based on analysis of more than a million real-world situations where users were using their internet to watch movies or TV.
The Daily Telegraph has been campaigning for better access to broadband in rural areas by highlighting the problems caused to families and businesses by slow internet speeds.
The uswitch research also shows that one in five broadband users have speeds of less than 10Mbps – while nearly 1 in 10 has internet at speeds of less than 5Mbps.
Regulator Ofcom has previously said that 10Mbps is the minimum needed to meet the needs of a typical household.
Four of the top 20 fastest streets were in London, with another two in Glasgow and one in Greater Manchester. However, some of the fastest places are very close to streets with slow internet speeds. Red Willow in Harlow, Essex, is less than 40 minutes from Noak Hill Road in Billericay, but has speeds that are 143 times faster.
On more than two thirds of the UK’S 30 slowest streets, fibre broadband is available, suggesting that the providers themselves could be the issue.
The number of people who can access faster broadband is growing, with 36 per cent of people using average speeds of 30Mbps or more, an increase from 22per cent two years ago.
The Government has pledged to give 95per cent of households access to fibre broadband at 24Mbps or faster by the end of the year. In September it said it was on track to meet this goal.
Ewan Taylor-gibson, broadband expert at uswitch.com, said: “Reasons for such sluggish broadband speeds can vary and can include a user’s distance from the nearest exchange or difficulties with the property itself – thickness of walls, for example, can affect wireless connections.”