Best and worst UK broadband revealed – is your area top or bottom of the list?

The latest UK broadband speeds stats are in and there’s good and bad news for millions of UK homes. According to a new report from the team at Compare the Market, the city of Hull now has the quickest average broadband in the country with residents able to whizz files and films to devices at over 200Mbps. At that rate, it would take less than three minutes to download a full HD blockbuster movie. Coming second in the league was York (average 177Mbps) closely followed by Southampton (176Mbps).

At the other end of the table are the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Argyll and Bute with those living in these parts of Scotland getting speeds of under 47Mbps – that’s well below the UK average of 75Mbps. As a comparison, downloading the same HD movie at that slower rate would take over 14 minutes.

Along with revealing the best and worst places to access the web, Compare the Market has also looked at which places have improved the most since 2021.

Southampton and Brent have both seen things almost double in recent years taking average downloads from around 90Mbps to over 150Mbps.

With more of us streaming movies, working from home and downloading huge game files onto consoles, faster broadband is becoming a critical service that many of us can’t live without. This latest news clearly shows some areas are improving but the UK still has a long way to go before all homes are offered ultra-fast speeds. 

Here are the full speeds leagues

Best broadband

Hull • 228.4Mbps

York • 177.5Mbps

Southampton • 176.5Mbps

Tower Hamlets • 163.8Mbps

Stockton-on-Tees • 163.5Mbps

‌Worst broadband

Orkney Islands • 41Mbps

Shetland Islands • 43.3Mbps

Argyll and Bute • 46.3Mbps

Na h-Eileanan Siar • 48.5Mbps

Highland • 50.7Mbps

Best improvement since 2021

Southampton • WAS 99.4 – NOW 176.5Mbps

Brent • WAS 89.4 – NOW 152.1Mbps

Hull • WAS 171.4 – NOW 228.4Mbps

Tonbridge and Malling • WAS 84.8 – NOW 135.3Mbps

Stockton-on-Tees • WAS 115.1 – NOW 163.5

Speaking about the news, Alex Hasty, director at Compare the Market, said: “Broadband speed is more important than ever whether it’s used for working from home or streaming movies and TV shows. While it is encouraging that broadband speed has improved in some parts of the country, there is still some way to go.

“There are still hundreds of thousands of homes without decent broadband and the vast majority of these are in remote areas. If you find your connection is too slow, or you don’t have the capacity you need, you might want to consider upgrading to a new package or switching provider. It’s always worth comparing prices online to check you’re getting good value for money.”