Average broadband speeds on the slide – broadband.co.uk

Published August 3rd, 2009

Research by analysts at broadband.co.uk have shown that for the first time in 2009 average broadband speeds have stopped their uninterrupted rise with the first drop in the average since December 2008.

“The drop may be small at around 0.1Mbps, but it’s still a concern for the majority of broadband users as the drop would have been even steeper if it wasn’t for the exceptional performance put in by Virgin Media” Says Edd Dawson, Editor of broadband.co.uk.

The results were calculated from thousands of broadband speed tests taken on the broadband.co.uk site during April 2009 by ordinary broadband users UK wide.

“Virgin Media saw their average speed jump by around 0.6Mbps, one of the biggest monthly improvements we’ve ever seen a supplier make, which we congratulate. Their exceptional performance has saved the UK average from an even steeper drop.” adds Dawson.

At a time of enhanced scrutiny of broadband performance in the media due to the recent Ofcom survey these results are bound to put pressure on a number of suppliers.

Commenting on the Ofcom survey Dawson said “It was encouraging to see the results of the Ofcom survey mirroring the accuracy of broadband.co.uk’s previously published reports showing the average speed increasing from 3.6Mbps in January to 4.1Mbps in April 2009. We feel it’s crucial that broadband consumers are able to monitor the performance of ISP’s which is why we will be continuing to publish our speedtest results on a monthly basis”.

July 2009 Average speedtest results

1.Virgin Media – 6.73Mbps
2.BE/O2 – 5.31Mbps
3.Orange – 3.41Mbps
4.TalkTalk – 3.34Mbps
5.Sky – 3.33Mbps
6.BT – 2.94Mbps
7.Plusnet – 2.81Mbps
8.Tiscali – 2.81Mbps
9.Eclipse – 2.58Mbps
10.AOL – 2.21Mbps

All providers average – 4.26Mbps

For full details including speed test results for individual suppliers please see the full results:

http://www.broadband.co.uk/press/releases/UK-broadband-speedtest-results-July-2009.pdf