A study published today by Thinkbroadband.com says that while claims are made of 16Mbps or faster broadband services, which do come with warnings about "line length affecting speeds", no mention is made of where you live. Where you live, it seems, makes all the difference. Just take a look UK Region Download speed (Kbps) /Upload speed (Kbps)London 4,460 507 North East 3,594 426 North West 3,393 418 East Midlands 3,275 407 South East 3,253 404 Yorkshire 3,204 391 W.Midlands 3,193 382 E.Midlands 3,090 394Scotland 2,876 385South West 2,869 370Wales 2,587 360N.Ireland 2,258 343 The problem is not apparently that ADSL is massively slower in Northern Ireland and Wales, but that the broadband options offering speeds above 8Mbps are less likely to be available. The research also breaks access speeds down by counties and larger cities. The Highlands are down in 43rd place with an average of 2,177Kbps, the worst of those with more than 40 unique postcodes. Northern Ireland wins the crown of slowest UK region. Ofcom may have said that the geographical digital divide had been closed earlier this year, after research found that homes in rural areas were more likely to have broadband than those in towns, but that access is far slower. That's life in the country for you. No 'Call of Duty 4' for you then.
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Whatever happened to Google's rumoured broadband? Didn't it purchase a few dark cable networks a while back? Think it was to reduce internal broadband costs but there's no reason it couldn't open these up.
Gordon Macmillan
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