After further warnings about failures in the government’s rural broadband programme, Channel 4 News put Britain’s internet speed to the test. So how did your area fare?
Whether you’re a farmer in Lincolnshire or a media-savvy Londoner, modern life in 2013 is hugely reliant on the internet.
But the government’s attempt to extend broadband to 90 per cent of the UK has been subject to long delays and rising public costs. And on Thursday, a group of MPs cast further doubt on the programme, saying that taxpayers were being “ripped off”.
The public accounts committee also warned that the final result of a 24 megabytes per second (mbps), for 90 per cent of the UK by 2017, is too little too late – and lagging behind our European counterparts.
So how bad is British broadband? Channel 4 News decided to carry out our own internet poll to test speeds across the UK. We asked readers to click on a link and time how long it took to download this high resolution image. Our highly unscientific poll found a wide variation across the country – and between providers.
The worst speed by a long way was 12 minutes and 22.5 seconds, as recorded by @boredborder in north Lancashire.
@Channel4News re-tried on computer.. Only device on network, and timed it.. We are in North Lancs.. pic.twitter.com/0jWem94O64
— Otts and Bobs (@boredborder) September 26, 2013
The fastest speed recorded was in St George, Bristol, where it took @BristleKRS just nine seconds – about three seconds faster than the computers at Channel 4 News HQ.
@Channel4News About 9s. Am I missing something?
— BristleKRS (@BristleKRS) September 26, 2013
Speaking of media outlets, you might expect an impressive super-speed service. But Jonathan Paige tweeted us a fairly poor speed of just one minute, from the Guardian’s multimedia offices.
@Channel4News nearly a minute in your super soaraway guardian multimedia department
— Jonathan Paige (@johnnypaige) September 26, 2013
For a more authoritative assessment of the UK’s broadband performance, Ofcom has put together this map based on 2012 data, and a map showing broadband performance throughout the UK
Here are some of the other results:
@Channel4News 29 seconds on ADSL.
— Tom [ukpositivelad] (@UKPositiveLad) September 26, 2013
@Channel4News took about 10 secs to fully load here in sunny Slough.
— Matthew E Streuli (@mattstreuli) September 26, 2013
@Channel4News Took about 12 seconds. Have BT Infinity 1 here, 32Mb. Itâ??s nowhere near as fast in real terms as when we got it.
— Max Tappenden (@maxtappenden13) September 26, 2013
@Channel4News 3 mins. Nr Totnes, Devon (in the sticks). Zen Internet :-(
— Richard St Ruth (@RSR108) September 26, 2013
@Channel4News 15 secs via wireless in Surrey.
— Fiona M Chapelle (@FionaMChapelle) September 26, 2013