Best and worst places to access broadband and the results will surprise you

02 August 2023 , 06:00

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Broadband Wifi router (Image: GETTY)

A new study of broadband speeds around the world has revealed just how far the UK lags behind other countries when it comes to Internet services.

The team at Cable.co.uk ran over 1.3 billion tests around the world and found the UK sitting in a lowly 34th place with average download speeds of just 93.63Mbps.

This is despite 'superfast' broadband packages costing Brits as much as £60 per month. Meanwhile, other much smaller countries have drastically faster Internet speeds for peanuts, including those linked to Britain via the monarchy.

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We're sitting way behind the top five nations in the world for average Internet speeds: Gibraltar (206.27Mbps), Iceland (229.35Mbps), Macau (231.40Mbps), Liechtenstein (246.76Mbps) and Jersey (264.52).

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The small island nation of Jersey has the fastest average download speeds in the world

Jersey, a British Crown Dependency located just a few miles off the northwest coast of France, has internet that's almost three times faster than average. The UK was also beaten by the likes of Spain (133Mbps), Romania (100Mbps), France (152.45Mbps), and even the tiny island nation of Bermuda (95.58Mbps). It's not all bad news though as the UK's average download speeds have been getting quicker over time - the last test saw the UK getting average speeds well below 80Mbps.

Cable.co.uk's Dan Howdle said: "The UK continues to keep apace with average speeds around the world, failing to gain ground on other countries in the global league table, while at the same time maintaining roughly the same position.

There is fortunately lots of choice out there if you want to switch to a faster broadband provider

"Speeds have increased globally by 30.044% since the same period in 2021/2022, while UK speeds have increased by 29.933% across the same period."

If you are having problems with slow broadband, there is fortunately lots of choice on the market which means you can easily switch to a faster provider.

Websites like USwitch and CompareTheMarket have free tools to help you find the fastest broadband for your budget in your local area.

Or, if you're a recipient of benefits, you could qualify for a social tariff which means you can get your hands on fast internet for a much cheaper price than usual.

Ciaran Daly