Revealed: The UK cities with the fastest and slowest broadband speeds – so, how does your area stack up?

We’ve all been there: you go to download a movie or stream a song, but you’re met by the “spinning wheel of death.”

Slow broadband speeds are something that many Brits have to deal with, and now new figures have revealed the cities with the worst connections.

Consumer speed testing by Broadband Genie shows that Canterbury is the city with the slowest average speeds, closely followed by Ripon and Chester.

In contrast, people in Belfast, Portsmouth and Milton Keynes enjoy the fastest average speeds, according to the report.

“No broadband customer should have to accept substandard service, especially in a year when we’ve seen record price increases across the sector,” said Alex Tofts, broadband expert at Broadband Genie.

In the study, Broadband Genie analyzed 265,572 consumer speed tests from across the UK.

At a city level, Canterbury ended up at the bottom of the list, with residents achieving an average speed of just 34.4MB.

This was followed by Ripon (39.9 Mb), Chester (43.6 Mb), Carlisle (46 Mb) and Worcester (46.9 Mb).

At the other end of the spectrum, Belfast topped the list, with average speeds of 152MB.

Portsmouth (122 Mb) was not far behind, along with Milton Keynes (117.2 Mb), Derry (114.9) and Plymouth (109.5 Mb).

Scroll down to average speeds for all UK cities.

Meanwhile, the village of Halkirk in Caithness was named the slowest area across all parts of Britain, with residents achieving average speeds of just 2.8Mb.

For reference, Ofcom advises that 10Mb is the minimum ‘decent’ speed that homes should receive.

In contrast, Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire has the fastest broadband speeds in Britain, with an impressive average of 409Mb per household.

“Most of Britain’s largest providers are signatories to Ofcom’s Broadband Speeds Code of Practice,” Tufts said.

‘This means that they must be clear about the speeds you can expect at your address, including a guaranteed minimum that they must maintain above that.

‘Speed ​​tests are a useful tool to regularly monitor your performance. If they don’t deliver on what was promised, contact your provider and raise the issue.

‘Please note that poor broadband speeds can also be affected by factors beyond your provider’s control. So check these first.

‘Poor wiring in your home or a poorly placed or defective router can cause your WiFi to not work.

‘Residents of the slowest towns and cities may also suffer unnecessarily because faster speeds are available in their area if they change.

‘If you’re out of contract and want to upgrade your broadband, do a quick comparison online to see the best deals.

‘You may even end up paying less for better and faster service.’