When choosing somewhere to live different considerations need to be made. One fairly new consideration is the quality of the broadband in the area. Thanks to Broadband Genie, we now know which UK cities have the best and worst broadband speeds. The gap between the best and worst is stark.
Before we get onto the list, it"s worth noting that despite the results, Broadband Genie thinks the broadband landscape in the UK is "looking positive". It noted that 62% of homes have full-fiber broadband access and gigabit broadband is also widely available.
Based on over 149,000 speed tests conducted around the country, the five fastest cities were Lichfield, Staffordshire (359 Mbps); Newry, County Armagh and County Down (138 Mbps); Ely, Cambridgeshire (118 Mbps); Dundee, Angus (100 Mbps); and Lisburn, County Antrim (99 Mbps). What"s good about these results is that these places are fairly well distributed around the United Kingdom, with Wales being the only nation not represented.
Inversely, the worst cities for broadband in the UK are Canterbury, Kent (22 Mbps); Ripon, North Yorkshire (28 Mbps); Perth, Perthshire (37 Mbps); Norwich, Norfolk (38 Mbps); and Winchester, Hampshire (40 Mbps). These cities are overwhelmingly in England. It"s also worth noting that it is Canterbury"s second year as the worst city for broadband.
Explaining why Canterbury ranked so lowly, Broadband Genie said:
The area lacks the otherwise widely available Virgin Media and almost a third of premises don’t have access to full fibre broadband. However, other factors can influence the results. Faulty infrastructure and Wi-Fi connectivity issues can dampen the performance. Plus, a lack of awareness of better speeds, unwillingness to pay for an upgrade, and confusing terminology may put off some customers. This results in more people staying on slow broadband deals which aren’t fit for purpose.
In the case of Ripon, the UK"s second slowest city, Broadband Genie explains that there may be hope for residents because CityFibre is connecting thousands of premises to full fiber broadband and Zzooomm is planning to build in the area too.
In terms of big cities, Liverpool did the best with broadband speeds of 81 Mb. Edinburgh achieved 78 Mbps, Belfast scored 76 Mbps, Manchester got 72 Mbps, the capital of the UK, London, came in at 57 Mbps, Cardiff came in at 50 Mbps, and Birmingham, one of the worst performers, came in at 41 Mbps.
As an average consumer, you may not even need the fastest packages, Broadband Genie recommends that 1-person households get 35 Mbps average download speed packages, up to 3-person households should aim for 35 Mbps - 64 Mbps, up to 5-person households should aim for 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps, and 5+ people households should get 100 Mbps download speed packages. This is so that multiple people on the network don"t overburden it and slow it down for other users.
You can check out Broadband Genie"s announcement for a complete overview of how all the UK"s cities performed in terms of broadband download speeds.