Faster connections ignored amid internet speed ‘postcode lottery’
AVERAGE BROADBAND connection speeds are worst in rural Scotland and Wales, but parts of central London and Kent also struggle for fast internet access, new research from consumer group Which? suggests.
The Orkney Islands, Allerdale in Cumbria and the Shetland Islands were named as the areas with the lowest average speed, but Tower Hamlets and Westminster in London were also named among the slower areas.
Which? said some households could get faster internet and save money by switching to a better package.
Research last year by regulator Ofcom found that half of British households could upgrade to faster connectivity if they wished.
The regulator said in December that more than 90 per cent of households and businesses could access superfast broadband, but fewer than half have taken it up.
The latest findings from Which? came as work began in Huddersfield town centre to extend CityFibre and Vodafone’s existing full fibre network to more homes and businesses in the area. The upgrade offers internet speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps).
By contrast, Which? found average speeds of 3Mbps on the Orkney Islands, 10.1Mbps in Tower Hamlets and 10.8Mbps in Westminster.
The Government has pledged to ensure a bare minimum connection speed of at least 10Mbps across the country by 2020.
Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, inset, urged the Government to make good its promise, saying: “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.”
A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “More than 95 per cent of the UK can now get superfast speeds, and this year we are making fast broadband a legal right so that no-one is left behind.”