Worst 50 areas in the UK for broadband speed REVEALED – did your town make the list?

Adventurers in the Arctic Circle can rely on Wi-Fi ten times faster than half a million households in rural Britain, analysis has found.

Despite being one of the world’s remotest regions, the snowy tundra is serviced with internet that can reach over 100 megabytes per second (mbps).

Even explorers 17,600ft high at Everest Base Camp can get reliably quick broadband, with the local provider offering speeds of around 50mbps.

In contrast, ten villages in the UK receive less than 10mbps, while even the Moon is set to achieve broadband speeds of 100mbps by 2024. 

Internet provider National Broadband has revealed the worst 50 areas for broadband speed in the country, with Narberth in Wales taking the crown.

The median broadband speed in the Pembrokeshire town was just 4.71mbps, but Temple in Cumbria and Corsley in Wiltshire follow close behind with 5.62mbps and 5.64mbps respectively.

Rural areas like these were found to be seven times more likely to be stuck with speeds under 10mbps.

On the other hand, only 9 per cent of Londoners are unable to access broadband speeds of up to 100mbps.

This same figure is 70 per cent in Wales – the worst performing region in the UK – 60 per cent in Yorkshire and 59 per cent in the East of England.

In fact, over 500,000 properties in the country still are suffering with download speeds under 10mbps, despite them having a legal right to it.

Fibre optic broadband, the fastest type, can achieve speeds of 1,000mbps, which is enough for five people to stream films on different devices at the same time.

Ministers had pledged to roll this out to all homes and businesses by 2025 – but this was later watered down to ‘at least 85 per cent of homes’.

In October, a survey revealed that more than nine million broadband customers do not believe they get the speeds they pay for.

A quarter of all customers surveyed said they regularly fail to receive the internet speeds they should, while 7 per cent say they never do.

National Broadband said its research highlighted how swathes of the country were ‘left struggling with near-unusable broadband’. 

David Hennell, a director at the company, said: ‘The disparity between digital “haves” and “have nots” in the UK is sadly growing.

‘This makes it very clear that just not enough is being done to close the digital divide in this country.’ 

At the end of last year, Wistaston Road in Crewe was revealed as the UK’s slowest street for broadband, with average download speeds of just 0.24mbps.

This was closely followed by Grant Road in Banchory (0.28mbps), Dutchells Copse in Horsham (0.29mbps) and Cornwall Avenue in Manchester (0.31mbps). 

In contrast, residents on Haul Fryn in Swansea enjoy the fastest broadband, with average speeds reaching an impressive 882mbps – 3,567 times faster than Wistaston Road.

This was followed by Grange Road in Ilford (877.48mbps), Dalesgate Close in Derby (855.55mbps) and West Gate in Fleetwood (841.85mbps).

To see how your street’s average speeds compare, you can use Uswitch’s broadband speed test tool here.