Fastest broadband speeds being enjoyed by Northern Ireland

It has been revealed in a recent report from the UK communications regulator Ofcom that Northern Ireland has the fastest average broadband speeds on an up to 8Mbps service in all of the UK.

A report was recently released by Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, with regards to the average speeds that broadband customers on an up to 8Mbps service were actually getting from their Internet Service Provider, and in most cases the results were very poor, with most receiving just half the speed that the ISP was advertising.

However, the study from Ofcom has also revealed that the fastest average broadband speeds in the UK are being enjoyed in Northern Ireland, where consumers on up to 8Mbps packages are receiving higher speeds from their providers than those on up to 8Mbps service in the rest of the UK. The average speed being reached by consumers on these packages in Northern Ireland was 4.1Mbps, whereas in the rest of the UK it was just 3.9Mbps.

A number of factors are thought to contribute towards this faster average speed in Northern Ireland, and one of the factors identified by Ofcom was better electrical line quality in Northern Ireland. However, the regulator did point out that there was a 0.4Mbps error margin, which means that the average speed in Northern Ireland could actually be lower, at 3.7Mbps or could be higher at 4.5Mbps depending on the direction of the error margin.

An official from Ofcom in Ireland stated: “It is very encouraging that some people here are enjoying the fastest broadband speeds in the UK, but we know that there are still parts of Northern Ireland, particularly rural areas, where speeds are much slower. Ofcom will continue to encourage the rollout of better, faster broadband services across the whole of Northern Ireland.”

Source – http://news.bbc.co.uk