With more people being forced to work from home during 2020 due to COVID-19, research has revealed the streets with the slowest and fastest broadband in the UK.
It shows the country’s poorest connection is as much as 5,330 times slower than the fastest street.
People living in Dale Lane in Appleton, Cheshire, enjoy the country’s quickest speed – 639.67Mbps – and means its residents can download a two-hour high definition film in about one minute and 20 seconds.
But broadband users in Queens Road in Weybridge, Surrey, would have to wait for around 119 hours to download the same film because they have the UK’s most sluggish connection at an average speed of just 0.12Mbps.
The research by Uswitch.com reveals the digital divide could be growing deeper as the fastest street was only 830 times quicker than the slowest in analysis carried out in 2019.
The comparison site based its findings on 398,973 “real world” speed tests run by broadband users over the last year.
Ernest Doku is a broadband expert at Uswitch.com and said: “It’s interesting to see that the north claims the fastest street this year, while the slowest street is in the south east, showing that the speed of your connection has nothing to do with where you live.
“It’s great that more of us are enjoying ultrafast broadband, but we don’t want to see large swathes of the country left behind on shoddy connections that aren’t suitable for modern life.
“With millions of us working from home and watching more streaming TV at the moment, a good broadband connection is more important than ever.
“One of the biggest obstacles stopping people from getting faster download speeds is the lack of awareness regarding superfast and ultrafast broadband.
“For example, some people on the UK’s fastest street, Dale Lane, enjoy speeds above 900Mbps, while others only get 5.5Mbps.
“And of the ten slowest streets, seven could have access to faster broadband, so we urge residents there – and anyone else unhappy with their broadband speeds – to do a quick check online to see what speeds they could be getting.”
The findings suggest that the number of broadband users enjoying faster speeds is growing, with 54% able to receive speeds of more than 30Mbps, which is up from 22% five years ago.
There is also concern that people are not checking whether they can get faster speeds, with research showing seven out of the ten slowest streets have access to a quicker service.
Average download speed – the slowest streets in 2020:
1. Queens Road, Weybridge, Surrey – 0.12Mbps
2. Hatchett Road, Feltham, Hounslow, London – 0.38Mbps
3. Monkton, Devon – 0.45Mbps
4. Church Street, Great Maplestead, Halstead, Essex – 0.47Mbps
5. Limmer Close, Wokingham, Berkshire – 0.48Mbps
6. Waterley Bottom, North Nibley, Dursley, Gloucestershire – 0.49Mbps
7. Spencer Road, Caterham, Surrey – 0.55Mbps
8. Ringhaddy Road, Killinchy, Newtownards, Northern Ireland – 0.62Mbps
9. Fishtoft Drove, Frithville, Boston, Lincolnshire – 0.66Mbps
10. Sopwith Crescent, Wimborne, Dorset – 0.67Mbps
Average download speed – the fastest streets in 2020:
1. Dale Lane, Appleton, Warrington, Cheshire – 639.67Mbps
2. Longhedge, Caldecotte, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire – 568.18Mbps
3. Old Ballynahinch Road, Lisburn, Northern Ireland – 563.85Mbps
4. Montvale Gardens, Leicester, Leicestershire – 452.02Mbps
5. Mill Close, Henlow, Bedfordshire- 360.59Mbps
6. York Road, Guildford, Surrey – 352.67Mbps
7. Chapel Road, Oldbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire – 284.92Mbps
8. Woodcroft Road, Liverpool, Merseyside – 282.21Mbps
9. Cairn Wynd, Inverurie, Scotland – 276.40Mbps
10. Sandy Hamilton Place, Inverurie, Scotland – 253.17Mbps
Slowest streets where superfast/ultrafast broadband is available:
1. Queens Road, Weybridge, Surrey – Yes/Some
2. Hatchett Road, Feltham, Hounslow, London – No/Yes
3. Monkton, Devon – No/No
4. Church Street, Great Maplestead, Halstead, Essex – No/No
5. Limmer Close, Wokingham, Berkshire – Yes/No
6. Waterley Bottom, North Nibley, Dursley, Gloucestershire – Some/No
7. Spencer Road, Caterham, Surrey – No/Some
8. Ringhaddy Road, Killinchy, Newtownards, Northern Ireland – No/Some
9. Fishtoft Drove, Frithville, Boston, Lincolnshire – No/No
10. Sopwith Crescent, Wimborne, Dorset – Some/Some