UK broadband speeds plummet during peak periods in the evening according to a new survey published by uSwitch.
Speeds dropped by over a third to an average of 35 per cent between 7 and 9pm in the evenings. The finding is the result of data collected from over two million broadband speed tests conducted between March and October.
Regional areas suffered a much greater reduction in speeds with Weston-Super-Mare speeds dropping by 64 per cent, from 9.5Mb to 3.4Mb, while Evesham saw an even greater fall of 69 per cent, from 15.5Mb in the morning to 4.5Mb in the evening.
"It really is surprising just how much broadband speeds fluctuate at different times of the day, with drop-offs of almost 70%
in some areas of the UK," said uSwitch representative Ernest Doku.
"Not many internet users enjoy the maximum headline broadband speeds offered by providers, and certainly not during the working week," he added.
Night owls will find the fastest time to be between 2am and 3am, the company said.
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I have recently conducted a village-wide broadband speed survey. It's a village just outside Cambridge, the high-tech capital of the UK (and in the top 10 in the world), and yet we only get approx 1.5Mbps on average, with a very few folk getting 2-2.5 and many getting less than the average. We can only dream of getting a rate of 15Mbps.
The issue for us is the connection quality, not the level of global/UK Internet activity, but both are indications that the level of investment in broadband infrastructure (core backbone and local connection) and web services provision in the UK is woefully too small to support the local, regional and national e-economy.
Simon Conway-Smith INDUSTRY
0 0Nov 17th 2011 at 11:09AM