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Average UK broadband just over half advertised speed

The average downstream speed received by UK households is just 57 per cent of the average advertised rate, according to Ofcom research.

Data from the regulator's hardware-based performance monitoring network shows that while the average broadband package is sold as "up to" 7.1Mbit/s, it actually delivers 4.1Mbit/s.


The UK average is up from 3.6Mbit/s in January however, when Ofcom released its first set of figures.

In rural regions, the gap between marketing and reality is wider, with an average downstream speed of 3.3Mbit/s. In urban areas the mean is 4.6Mbit/s.

As many as one in five customers on "up to" 8Mbit/s packages delivered via the BT network - the most common class of broadband - receive less than 2Mbit/s in reality. Tiscali offers the slowest speeds on average.

Just nine per cent of "up to" 8Mbit/s lines creep above 6Mbit/s.

Click here to read more from theregister.co.uk