Broadband Speedtest

⇆ Speedtest

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This test examines the latency (milliseconds), download and upload speed of your broadband connection in Megabits per second (estimated). Please try our Availability Checker to see which major networks are available in your area.

Categories

Speedtest
Results - UK Home Broadband ISPs
Results - UK Alternative Network ISPs
Results - UK Mobile Broadband Operators

Speedtest

Please take note that this test can cope with both current and next generation Gigabit broadband speeds (up to around 1,000Mbps), although the dynamic nature of Internet connectivity means that the results may not always be 100% accurate. Tests conducted via WiFi may also produce a slower result, especially if others are using your network.

Results - UK Home Broadband ISPs

These results only include independent ISPs with a wide national availability, which is primarily because smaller and often faster altnet providers (Gigaclear, B4RN, Hyperoptic etc.) aren't yet available to the majority of people and others didn't produce enough test data to be included.

NOTE: The top 10% result below represents the speeds experienced by the fastest 10% of customers at each ISP (usually those with the best connections / fastest packages).

Average Download Speeds (Mean)

No.	Operator	2020 H2 (Top 10%)	2019 H2 (Top 10%)	Change %
1.	Virgin Media	118.3Mbps (236.9Mbps)	85.6Mbps (193.8Mbps)	+38.2%
2.	AAISP	53.6Mbps (99.8Mbps)	no data	n/a
3.	BT	46.2Mbps (72.8Mbps)	35.1Mbps (66.8Mbps)	+31.61%
4.	Vodafone	45.1Mbps (71.6Mbps)	38.2Mbps (67.7Mbps)	+18.06%
5.	iDNET	42Mbps (71.5Mbps)	41.2Mbps (70.2Mbps)	+1.94%
5.	Zen Internet	40.8Mbps (70.7Mbps)	46.4Mbps (74.4Mbps)	-12.07%
7.	EE	30.4Mbps (62.8Mbps)	27.6Mbps (57.4Mbps)	+10.14%
8.	TalkTalk	28Mbps (56.6Mbps)	24.3Mbps (48.2Mbps)	+15.23%
9.	Sky Broadband (tied)	27.7Mbps (58.5Mbps)	25.4Mbps (54.4Mbps)	+9.06%
10.	Plusnet	25.6Mbps (53.2Mbps)	24.2Mbps (50.5Mbps)	+5.79%

Average Upload Speeds (Mean)

No.	Operator	2020 H2	2019 H2	Change %
1.	Virgin Media	14.9Mbps	13.6Mbps	+9.56%
2.	Zen Internet	14.3Mbps	13Mbps	+10%
3.	AAISP	14Mbps	no data	n/a
4.	Vodafone	13.3Mbps	10.6Mbps	+25.47%
5.	BT	11Mbps	8.7Mbps	+26.44%
6.	iDNET	10.3Mbps	10.8Mbps	-4.63%
7.	EE	7.3Mbps	6.7Mbps	+8.96%
8.	Sky Broadband	7.1Mbps	6.3Mbps	+12.7%
9.	TalkTalk	7Mbps	5.7Mbps	+22.81%
10.	Plusnet	6.1Mbps	5.7Mbps	+7.02%

Overall, the average download speed of the top national providers was 45.77Mbps (up from 38.66Mbps at the end of 2019) and the average upload speed hit 10.53Mbps (up from 9.01Mbps).

Results - UK Alternative Network ISPs

These results cover "full fibre" (FTTP) alternative network (AltNet) providers that have built their own physically separate networks. Most AltNets only have small UK coverage and limited speedtest data, which means that at present we can only summarise a few. The majority of these can deliver significantly faster speeds than the major national ISPs.

As FTTP providers don't suffer from the same performance pitfalls as copper or hybrid fibre ISPs then we've decided to focus our results on only the top 10% of fastest connections, which in most cases will reflect those consumers who take the fastest package tiers available from each provider.

Average Download Speeds of Top 10%

ISP	DL - Top 10% (2020 H2)	DL - Top 10% (2019 H2)
Community Fibre (FTTP)	639.2Mbps	448.9Mbps
Hyperoptic (FTTP)	453.9Mbps	284.9Mbps
Vodafone Gigafast (FTTP Only)	427.8Mbps	321.6Mbps
Gigaclear (FTTP)	225.5Mbps	321.4Mbps
KCOM (FTTP Only)	194.7Mbps	272Mbps

Results - UK Mobile Broadband Operators

These results reflect the four primary Mobile Broadband (3G and 4G) operators. Mobile services are subject to the daily movements and radically different hardware choices (Smartphones etc.) of their end-users, which makes it difficult to establish a reliable picture of performance.

Average Download Speeds

No.	Operator	2020 (Top 10%)	2019 (Top 10%)	Change
1.	EE	39Mbps (80.1Mbps)	32.5Mbps (70.7Mbps)	+20%
2.	Three UK	27.5Mbps (56.7Mbps)	18.6Mbps (43Mbps)	+47.85%
3.	Vodafone	27.1Mbps (59.8Mbps)	26.5Mbps (60.7Mbps)	+2.26%
4.	O2	17.4Mbps (44.2Mbps)	16.9Mbps (38.4Mbps)	+2.96%

Average Upload Speeds

No.	Operator	2020 (Top 10%)	2019 (Top 10%)	Change
1.	EE	8.3Mbps (18.5Mbps)	7.6Mbps (17.9Mbps)	+9.21%
2.	Vodafone	6.3Mbps (16.3Mbps)	6.5Mbps (16.4Mbps)	-3.08%
3.	Three UK	6.1Mbps (16.1Mbps)	5.5Mbps (15.2Mbps)	+10.91%
4.	O2	4.4Mbps (12.6Mbps)	4.4Mbps (11.4Mbps)	0%

Overall, the average download speed of the four primary mobile operators was 27.75Mbps (up from 23.62Mbps at the end of 2019) and the average upload speed hit 6.27Mbps (up from 6Mbps).

Disclaimer: Please take average (mean) speeds with a big pinch of salt. Every home is different and performance can be affected by all sorts of issues, many of which are beyond the provider's ability to control (e.g. tests conducted via slower smartphone vs faster desktop computers, slow wifi, poor home wiring etc.), thus we do not consider the above data to be a reliable barometer for individual user connectivity, but it can help to highlight general changes in the market.

NOTE: Data for H1 (first half of the year) is collected during the end of May, while data for H2 (second half of the year) is collected during the end of November.