New data shows broadband digital divide

Broadband speeds outside the London area fall away quickly, new research suggests

A new report has challenged recent claims by Ofcom that rural areas have better broadband access than city areas.

Thinkbroadband, the UK's largest independent broadband information site, took speed readings from over 13,000 broadband customers and found that rural users suffer a significant shortfall in speeds compared to their city cousins.

The readings suggest that broadband speeds outside the London area fall away quickly, and that customers in Northern Ireland and Wales get average speeds barely half those found in the capital.

In addition, the number of high-speed options for non-Londoners are far fewer.

"The problem is not that ADSL is massively slower in areas like Northern Ireland and Wales, but that the broadband options offering speeds above 8Mbps are less likely to be available," said Thinkbroadband.

"This data, while showing that the digital divide does exist, shows that on average at this time the gulf is not insurmountable.

"With local loop unbundling coverage still increasing, and BT Wholesale rolling out ADSL2+ products, we may see this divide narrowing.

"The question is how wide are we going to allow the gulf to open up if fibre-to-the-home or sub-loop unbundling is deployed in just parts of the UK, and does it matter?"

Average download speeds in London were 4,460Kbps, followed by the North East at 3,594Kbps.

In contrast, average Welsh speeds were just 2,587Kbps and in Northern Ireland this figure dropped to just 2,258Kbps.

Edinburgh residents came out above Londoners in connection speeds, but Glasgow residents are now far behind.