Slowest Broadband Streets In The UK Named

Fibre, fibre, in the cabinet, who has the slowest broadband of... them all (nothing rhymes with cabinet, then)? Uswitch.com has answered the question of which street has the most sluggish broadband connection in the UK.

And apparently it's the unlucky inhabitants of Wheatley Road, Corringham, Stanford-le-Hope in Essex, and Erw Fawr, Henryd, Conwy in Wales, who are the joint slowest at 0.6Mbps dead on (dead being the operative word).

This is according to speed tests which have been number-crunched by Uswitch, some two million of them over six months. The results show that only 15 per cent of UK surfers are getting speeds in excess of 30Mbps, which is the definition of superfast according to the EU.

Ofcom reckons 73 per cent of the UK has access to superfast broadband, so this suggests that not many people are deciding to exercise the right to upgrade to a fibre connection.

The second slowest street in the UK was found to be Station Road, Swineshead, Boston in Lincolnshire at 0.65 Mbps, with Kelvin Grove, North Shields in Tyne and Wear just behind that on 0.74Mbps, and Maple Crescent, Alveley, Bridgnorth in Shropshire in fifth place with 0.91Mbps.

There were nine streets in total with a connection speed slower than 1Mbps, and 40 per cent are experiencing speeds of less than 5Mbps – which really isn't good. And this isn't the first warning we've seen on the speed of British broadband recently...

As for the fastest street in the UK, that was Loundes Road, Unstone, Dronfield in Derbyshire which hit an average of 57.58Mbps. Spencer Close, Swindon in Wiltshire was second with 50.6Mbps, followed by Northam Drive, Ripley in Derbyshire on 44.67Mbps.

Marie-Louise Abretti, the broadband guru at uSwitch.com, commented: "Broadband is now widely considered the fourth utility, but our speed test data shows that not everyone is getting a decent service. Poor connectivity can severely affect local businesses, impact house prices and children's education, which is why it's crucial the government keeps its eye on the ball when it comes to improving UK broadband infrastructure, particularly in remote rural areas."