Rural Broadband 'Still Slower'

There is a marked disparity between UK broadband connection speeds in urban and rural areas, an investigation from industry website Thinkbroadband.com has revealed.

According to the study, the average connection in London comes in at 4.5 megabits per second (Mbps): almost twice the Northern Ireland average of 2.3 Mbps. Nationwide, the mean connection speed was found by the website to be around 3.2 Mbps - with the Wales and Scotland averages 2.6 Mbps and 2.9 Mbps respectively.

Thinkbroadband.com also found that countryside broadband users suffered consistently lower connections, when compared with urban users using similar equipment. This disparity was attributed to a general lack of access in rural areas to faster cable broadband, and the shorter telephone line lengths found in towns leading to extra speed.

Andrew Ferguson, the website's editor, said: "This survey shows us rural Britain may have a higher proportion of broadband homes but those homes are getting a slower service."

The editor also pointed out that broadband users who live in the countryside are also often forced to use BT phone line connections rather than unbundled lines from rival broadband providers. This lack of competition, it was suggested, also contributes to the speed disparity.

Thinkbroadband.com analysed connection speeds in 6,000 UK locations over a two month period while compiling its study.

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