Ookla, which is responsible for running the immensely popular Speedtest.net website, has now added broadband UK ISP rankings to its popular index of worldwide internet performance - Net Index. Telewest Broadband came top of the download speed list with an average of 15.15Mbps, while Virgin Media held 2nd place on 13.39Mbps; it should be noted that Telewest is a part of Virgin.


We still don't entirely trust the data itself, which claims that the current average UK broadband download speed is 7.71Mbps (Only this week Ofcom pegged it at 5.2Mbps, while Akamai said 3.8Mbps) and the average upload is 0.95Mbps, mostly because the scores are significantly higher than any other tests we've ever seen. Judge for yourself.

Top 15 ISPs by Download Speed
1. Telewest Broadband 15.15Mbps
2. Virgin Media 13.39Mbps
3. Cable & Wireless Telecommunications 12.33Mbps
4. Mistral Internet 7.90Mbps
5. Be Broadband 7.29Mbps
6. Kcom Group Public Limited Company ( Karoo ) 7.22Mbps
7. Easynet 6.86Mbps
8. Opal Telecom ( TalkTalk ) 5.68Mbps
9. British Telecommunications 5.28Mbps
10. Murphx Innovative Solutions 5.28Mbps
11. Zen Internet 5.17Mbps
12. Bulldog Communications 5.09Mbps
13. Sky Broadband 4.84Mbps
14. Demon Internet / Thus Plc 4.53Mbps
15. Carphone Warehouse Broadband Servies 4.23Mbps

Top 15 ISPs by Upload Speed
1. Cable & Wireless Telecommunications 5.08Mbps
2. Easynet 3.78Mbps
3. Mistral Internet 3.09Mbps
4. Kcom Group Public Limited Company ( Karoo ) 1.49Mbps
5. Demon Internet / Thus Plc 0.96Mbps
6. Griffin Internet 0.96Mbps
7. Telewest Broadband 0.92Mbps
8. British Telecommunications 0.82Mbps
9. Be Broadband 0.82Mbps
10. Virgin Media 0.72Mbps
11. Murphx Innovative Solutions 0.71Mbps
12. Zen Internet 0.65Mbps
13. Opal Telecom ( TalkTalk ) 0.63Mbps
14. Bulldog Communications 0.51Mbps
15. Sky Broadband 0.51Mbps

The results were obtained by analyzing test data between Jun 28th 2010 and Jul 27th 2010. Tests from 10,884,043 unique IP addresses have been taken in the UK and of 54,450,735 total tests, 1,771,984 are being used for the current Index.

In the near future, Ookla will add a Value component to Net Index, allowing consumers to see the cost breakdown associated with broadband services by country, state, city, and even by ISP.