A village in Renfrewshire with a population of less than 3,000 has been found to have the fastest broadband speeds in the UK.
Lochwinnoch, near Paisley, has been revealed to have the best internet connection of anywhere in Britian, beating out metropolis such as London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The rural hamlet, famous for its bird-watching nature reserve, boasts speeds of 409Mb per second - 100Mb faster than the runner-up Monmouth in Wales, which recorded typical speeds of 271Mb
Western Scotland was also named the UK’s fastest broadband region, with its average speeds of 110Mb, nearly nine times as fast as its slowest – the 13Mb rates experienced by families living in the Isles of Scilly
However, Scotland is also home to the slowest broadband area, with residents of the villahe of Halkirk receiving average speeds of just 2.8Mbps – well below the UK average of around 69Mbps.
Canterbury was been named the UK city with the slowest broadband, according to new analysis by internet speed comparison site Broadband Genie.
The Kent city was named ahead of Ripon in North Yorkshire, Chester, Carlisle and Worcester after a study of more than 265,000 consumer internet speed tests.
Overall, 32 cities across the UK werefound to fall below the average speed threshold. According to the figures, the average speed in Canterbury is just over 34Mbps.
READ MORE: Up to 340,000 Scots could be missing out on cheaper broadband
Belfast was the city with fastest broadband, averaging 152Mbps, and came ahead of Portsmouth, Milton Keynes, Derry and Plymouth.
Broadband Genie is urging the public to use an online speed test to check their broadband speed and take action if it is below their needs.
Alex Tofts, broadband expert at the comparison site, said: “No broadband customer should accept a sub-par service, least of all in a year when we have seen record price increases in the industry.
“Most of Britain’s biggest providers sign up to Ofcom’s Broadband Speeds Code of Practice. This means they have to be clear about the speeds you should expect at your address, including a guaranteed minimum they must keep above.
“Speed tests are a useful tool for regularly monitoring the performance you are receiving. If they are falling short of what has been promised, contact your provider and raise the issue.
READ MORE: Scots want broadband bills to be regulated, study finds
“It’s worth bearing in mind that poor broadband speeds can also be influenced by factors outside your provider’s control, so make sure you check these first. Poor home wiring or a poorly positioned or faulty router could be dragging your wifi down.
“Residents in the slowest towns and cities may also be suffering unnecessarily, with faster speeds available in their area if they switch.
“If you are out of contract and looking to upgrade your broadband, do a quick comparison online to see the best deals on offer. You may even end up paying less for a better and faster service.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel