Ofcom's report this morning claims there's no longer a geographical digital divide in broadband access, with rural areas apparently overtaking towns when it comes to high-speed connections to the home. But the top-line stats don't tell the whole story.
Realistically, you're far more likely to enjoy the best broadband can offer if you live in an urban area – ADSL speeds are largely determined by the distance between your house and the telephone exchange. Homes in towns and cities are less likely to be several miles from the telephone exchange than those in the countryside, so if you live in a rural area you're highly unlikely at get anywhere near the top-end download speeds ISPs shout about in their adverts.
Check the speed of your broadband connection using PC Advisor's new broadband speed checker, and let us know whether you're getting what you thought you were paying for.
Comments
Michael Titmas said: My speed test showed 119Mbps on an up to 8mbps package This problem is in the process of being investigated by my ISP Madasafish or Plusnet The ISP says it is a problem in the BT exchange 12 mile from home BT says it is the ISPs fault
Nick said: I am in a village in North Yorkshire and have a 1Mbps deal with Tiscali My download and upload speeds are 055 and 024 Mbps respectively And I am lucky Most people in the village cant get broadband at all BT say there is no prospect of upgrading the lines from the exchange some 5 miles away Cable is out of the question Is there any way of getting a reasonable service using radio satellite perhaps Might I suggest that the writers of the report are living in cloud cuckoo land
Karl said: Getting around 65 Mb download and around 037 Mb upload BT Broadband Option 1 Home Hub-- Excellent service as well
peter said: Im getting 09mbps download speeds I think Im on a 20mbps deal I rarely download big files so its not really a problem for me but being able to browse the web twice as fast would be great