Sleepy Suffolk lane suffers UK's slowest broadband

Thorpe Lane in Trimley St Martin, three miles north of Felixstowe, has an average speed 260 times slower than the fastest street - Benford Avenue in the North Lanarkshire town of Motherwell - and 53 times slower than the UK average, according to data for the last 12 months collated by uSwitch, a division of FTSE 250 firm ZPG.

Average speeds at Thorpe Lane were 0.68 Mbps, while average speeds on Benford Avenue peaked at 177.01 Mbps over the last 12 months, with the UK average coming in at 36.2 Mbps.

On Thorpe Lane, uSwitch said it would take more than 21 hours to download a two-hour HD film on Netflix, and almost eight hours to download a 45-minute HD TV show.

By contrast, on Benford Avenue it would take less than five minutes to download the two-hour film and 109 seconds to download the 45-minute TV show.

According to the research, which uSwitch said was based on more than one million “real world” speed tests run by broadband users over the last year, one in five broadband users were struggling with speeds of less than 10Mbps, while almost one in 10 crawled along at less than 5Mbps.

However, the number of broadband users enjoying faster speeds was growing.

Nearly four in 10 customers now received average speeds of at least 30Mbps, which was up from 22% two years ago.

But despite the fact that “fibre” broadband is supposed to be available to 95% of UK households by the end of this year, a recent survey by uSwitch found that only 57% of customers believed they could access it in their local area.

“It is astonishing to think that you could fly to Sydney in Australia in the time it takes to download a film on the UK’s slowest street,” said uSwitch broadband expert Ewan Taylor-Gibson.

“While cable services offering the fastest broadband speeds aren’t available at any of the UK’s slowest streets, fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband should be accessible at more than two thirds of the most sluggish postcodes, something that might be a surprise to those that have been frustrated enough to run a speed test.”

Taylor-Gibson said that while the regulator Ofcom was proposing having providers give more information on what speeds consumers should expect, he believed that unless the information was presented transparently, in a way that enabled broadband users to compare the available options side-by-side, the changes would not be truly effective.

“What consumers want to know is what they are getting now and how that compares to services they could access.

“Only then will consumers be fully empowered to make an informed decision about which service is right for their needs.”

Ewan Taylor-Gibson’s advice to unhappy consumers was to let their provider know as soon as possible.

“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.

“While there are measures that your broadband provider can offer to improve your signal, such as moving your router to reduce interference from other electronics, physically connecting your devices to the router using an ethernet cable and Wi-Fi boosters, it might be worth seeing if faster services are available in your area.”

30 slowest streets for broadband in the UK

1. Thorpe Lane, Trimley St Martin, Felixstowe, Suffolk
2. Cawcliff Lane, Wilton, Pickering, North Yorkshire
3. Old Road, Maisemore, Gloucester, Gloucestershire
4. Creeting Lane, Creeting St Peter, Ipswich, Suffolk
5. Opies Terrace, Four Lanes, Redruth, Cornwall
6. Hatton Green, Warwick, Warwickshire
7. Saltney Gate, Holbeach, Spalding, Lincolnshire
8. Rimini Road, Andover, Hampshire
9. Ashdown Drive, Chorley, Lancashire
10. Oldfort Road, Omagh, County Tyrone
11. Goudhurst Court, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
12. Thirlmere Drive, Essington, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
13. Nuthurst Street, Nuthurst, Horsham, West Sussex
14. Noak Hill Road, Billericay, Essex
15. The Gardens, Compton, Paignton, Devon
16. Sixteen Foot Bank, Stonea, March, Cambridgeshire
17. Kirkthorpe Lane, Heath, Wakefield, West Yorkshire
18. Craigflower Road, Glasgow
19. Pentland Way, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire
20. Thomas Penson Road, Gobowen, Oswestry, Shropshire
21. Willow Corner, Bayford, Hertford, Hertfordshire
22. Primrose Way, Minster on Sea, Sheerness, Kent
23. Bankhead, Milnathort, Kinross, Perth and Kinross
24. Slade Lane, Homer, Much Wenlock, Shropshire
25. Three Sisters Lane, Prestbury, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
26. Church Lane, Kirkby-la-Thorpe, Sleaford, Lincolnshire
27. Shakespeare Avenue, Rayleigh, Essex
28. Glan-y-Nant, Fochriw, Bargoed, Gwent
29. Willow Close, Brinsworth, Rotherham, South Yorkshire
30. Wye Road, Boughton Lees, Ashford, Kent

30 fastest streets for broadband in the UK

1. Benford Avenue, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire
2. Sheskin Gardens, Derry, County Londonderry
3. Crosswood Road, Swindon, Wiltshire
4. Astill Lodge Road, Leicester, Leicestershire
5. Olive Hill Road, Halesowen, West Midlands
6. Bonny Grove, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire
7. Red Willow, Harlow, Essex
8. Arden Oak Road, Birmingham, West Midlands
9. Airbles Crescent, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire
10. Dearden Street, Little Lever, Bolton, Greater Manchester
11. Holmrook Road, Carlisle, Cumbria
12. Ullswater Drive, Wetherby, West Yorkshire
13. Chestnut Drive, Pinner, Greater London
14. Kingsdyke Avenue, Glasgow
15. Oaklands Grove, Waterlooville, Hampshire
16. Chatham Road, Kingston upon Thames, Greater London
17. Wordsworth Drive, Rotherham, North Yorkshire
18. Claybridge Road, London, Greater London
19. Simshill Road, Glasgow
20. Fairmead Mews, Lower Burraton, Saltash, Cornwall
21. Baxter Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
22. Acer Close, Lincoln, Lincolnshire
23. Larch Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside
24. Inmans Road, Hull, East Yorkshire
25. Hempstead Road, Gillingham, Kent
26. Beechfield Road, Smethwick, West Midlands
27. Bodmin Avenue, Slough, Berkshire
28. Taeping Street, London, Greater London
29. The Rake, Wirral, Merseyside
30. Mauchline Court, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire

Source: uSwitch.com Broadband Speed Tracker