UK broadband 45% slower than advertised

January 9, 2017

Broadband is less than half the speed it should be for millions of households across the UK, a study by Ofcom has revealed.

In many cases, Internet users are paying for speeds more than two times faster than were achieved on their connection.

The average broadband speed in Ofcom’s 1,500 connection tests was 3.6Mbps – fast enough for most internet applications, but significantly below advertised speeds.

Average maximum possible speed – the fastest speed achieved by each connection during the research – was 4.3Mbps

Ofcom said that over 60% of UK consumers are subscribed to ‘up to 8Mbps’ broadband packages.

On average, the actual speed achieved by these subscribers was 45% below their subscription speed.

One in five users on a 8Mbps subscription had an average download speed under 2Mbps.

Broadband connections in cities and towns on average achieved 15% faster download speeds than in rural areas.

Ofcom said that broadband providers need to provide better information to subscribers about the download speed they should expect.