Top 50 UK Slowest Broadband Streets by Download Speed for 2012

A new study has used data from 2,261,336 internet speed tests to determine a list of the top 50 slowest streets for broadband ISP services, which saw Cromarty Road in Stamford (Lincolnshire) record the lowest score of just 0.132Mbps (Megabits per second). A list of the top 10 fastest streets has also been included.

According to the uSwitch study, which was conducted between April and September 2012, most of Britain’s slowest streets for broadband are not in particularly remote areas. In fact quite a lot are present in small towns, which are usually nearer to telephone exchanges and thus where we might ordinarily expect to see better performance; slow broadband isn’t just a rural problem.

The data similarly shows that many parts of the country are still a long way from being able to meet the government’s Universal Service Commitment (USC), which aims to make a minimum broadband download speed of 2Mbps available to all by 2015 (with 90% on a superfast broadband connection of 25Mbps+).

UK Top 50 Slowest Broadband Streets

1 Cromarty Road, Stamford, Lincolnshire 0.132 Mbps
2 Ledbury Road, Wellington Heath, Herefordshire 0.192 Mbps
3 Halsey Drive, Edzell, Aberdeenshire 0.25 Mbps
4 Burghley Road, Lincoln, Lincolnshire 0.259 Mbps
5 Harwich Road, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex 0.26 Mbps
6 Spondon Road, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, West Midlands 0.304 Mbps
7 Woodlands Drive, Colsterworth, Lincolnshire 0.346 Mbps
8 Glabon Road, Norwich, Norfolk 0.381 Mbps
9 Rose Hill Drive, Dodworth, South Yorkshire 0.394 Mbps
10 Clements Lane, Elford, Staffordshire 0.421 Mbps
11 Landsdown Crescent, Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland 0.422 Mbps
12 Kelsick Park, Seaton, Cumbria 0.423 Mbps
13 Kirkton Road, Fenwick, East Ayrshire 0.429 Mbps
14 Mere Crescent, Northwich, Cheshire West and Chester 0.484 Mbps
15 Brynhafod, Bryn, Neath, Port Talbot 0.525 Mbps
16 Churchill Drive, Upper Bruntingthorpe, Lutterworth, Leicestershire 0.533 Mbps
17 Broad Street, Great Cambourne, Cambridgeshire 0.538 Mbps
18 Grammer Street, Denby Village, Derbyshire 0.539 Mbps
19 Lake Way, Jaywick, Essex 0.54 Mbps
20 Danby Close, Washington, Tyne and Wear 0.549 Mbps
21 Crouch Meadow, Hullbridge, Essex 0.556 Mbps
22 Pinfield Close, Scarborough, North Yorkshire 0.559 Mbps
23 Copper Beach Drive, Carlton Colville, Suffolk 0.564 Mbps
24 Bodham Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 0.57 Mbps
25 Foundry Road, Ryhall, Rutland 0.575 Mbps
26 Redhall Road, Templand, Dumfries and Galloway 0.576 Mbps
27 The Green, Biddestone, Wiltshire 0.581 Mbps
22 Underhill Road, Matson, Gloucester, Gloucestershire 0.584 Mbps
29 Crossways Park, Pulborough, West Sussex 0.598 Mbps
30 Hazel Grove, Hockley Heath, West Midlands 0.56 Mbps
31 Leonard Road, Greatstone, Kent 0.601 Mbps
32 Foxton Road, Barrington, Cambridgeshire 0.606 Mbps
33 Hillside Road, Piddington, Northamptonshire 0.613 Mbps
34 Rhosyn Gwyn, New Tredegar, Caerphilly 0.615 Mbps
35 Jacqueline Gardens, Billericay, Essex 0.631 Mbps
36 Oak Tree Drive, Guildford, Surrey 0.633 Mbps
37 Main Street, Stonesby, Leicestershire 0.634 Mbps
38 Turnberry Avenue, Leeds, West Yorkshire 0.635 Mbps
39 Westfield Close, Five Ashes, East Sussex 0.636 Mbps
40 South View Road, London Borough of Haringey, London 0.639 Mbps
41 Heal Park Crescent, Fremington, Devon 0.651 Mbps
42 London End, Woburn, Central Bedfordshire 0.658 Mbps
43 Roanhead Lane, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria 0.663 Mbps
44 Arundel Drive, Orpington, Greater London 0.671 Mbps
45 Upper Malvern Road, Belfast, Castlereagh 0.681 Mbps
46 Beck Side, Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire 0.681 Mbps
47 Ardgay Road, Bonnybridge, Falkirk 0.67 Mbps
48 Ariel Close, Newport, Wales 0.69 Mbps
49 Rowan Tree Close, Birkenhead, Merseyside 0.693 Mbps
50 Heol-Y-Llys, Rhyl, Denbigshire, Wales 0.699 Mbps

In reality the slowest streets are actually those that lack any broadband connectivity at all, which obviously wouldn’t be featured in such a study. It’s also difficult to gauge the accuracy of such data without more information (e.g. were some tests repeated for the same line?), although uSwitch claims that each street had to have at least 30 registered speed tests in order to be included.

Crucially some of the above streets may still be within reach of a superfast broadband service, which might not show if the tests come from older services (ADSL etc.). In addition faster speeds may be available but the connectivity to individual premises could suffer due to poor home wiring and other factors that would not be clear through anecdotal testing.

On top of that this study somewhat appears to discount the potential impact that Satellite solutions could have (i.e. speeds of up to 10Mbps that are available almost anywhere). Of course Satellite’s aren’t as cheap or flexible as fixed line services but if you’re getting well below 1Mbps then they’re not a bad stop-gap until something better comes along. Now let’s see which streets are at the opposite end of this debate.

UK Top 10 Fastest Broadband Streets

1 Willowfield, Telford, Telford and Wrekin 70.90 Mbps
2 Darwin Avenue, Allenton, Derby 67.10 Mbps
3 Cromwell Road, Southend-on-Sea, Essex 66.97 Mbps
4 Poplars Way, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire 64.28 Mbps
5 Merkland Road, Aberdeen, Aberdeen City 62.96 Mbps
6 Trinity View, Ketley Bank, Telford and Wrekin 62.95 Mbps
7 Norris Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire 62.04 Mbps
8 Shaw Street, Bury, Greater Manchester 61.20 Mbps
9 Madrona, Amington, Tamworth, Staffordshire 60.33 Mbps
10 Goldington Avenue, Bedford, Bedfordshire 59.29 Mbps

As a side note Ofcom recently revealed that the UK’s average broadband download speed was 9Mbps (Megabits per second).