'The digital divide': Broadband is still so slow for some
Christmas 2020 will be remembered as the year we camped on the sofa to watch festive films in between video-calling loved ones from our homes.
However, for some families in the county, this year’s frustrations are set to continue with new figures revealing crippling broadband speeds in some neighbourhoods.
Across Shropshire, broadband speeds range from a superfast 72.3 megabits (Mbps) per second to a snail-paced 0.1 Mbps, according to data from Uswitch.com.
In Telford and Wrekin, it ranges from 222.4 Mbps per second to 10.9 Mbps.
It means families using Zoom, Skype or Facebook to speak to relatives and friends could be faced with annoying freezes, cut-outs and sound delays.
Meanwhile, those downloading films could be left waiting up to 120 hours, compared to just one minute 20 seconds in neighbourhoods with the fastest speeds.
The average broadband speeds were collected in postcode areas with more than 50 addresses through at least one test in the 12 months up to October this year. In total, nearly 400,000 tests were done.
They revealed, in Shropshire, the postcodes with the slowest speeds were WV166DG, in Highley, with an average speed of 0.1Mbps; SY36DR, in Radbrook, average 1.3Mbps and SY25XX, in Underdale, average 2.4Mbps.
Divide
The postcodes with the fastest speeds were SY56JH, in Severn Valley, average 72.3Mbps; SY131UE, in Whitchurch north, average 67.6Mbps and SY45YH, in Wem, average 53.3Mbps
Those with the slowest speeds in Telford and Wrekin were TF16UP, in Hadley and Leegomery, with an average speed of 10.9Mbps; TF75SU, in Madeley and Sutton Hill, average 11.3Mbps and TF15LT, in Oakengates and Ketley Bank, average 15.6Mbps.
The postcodes with the fastest speeds were TF26RF, in Wrockwardine Wood and Trench, average 222.4Mbps; TF12BF, in Haygate, average 76.2Mbps and TF16FW, in Apley Castle, average 67.1Mbps.
Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: “The digital divide that runs through Britain has grown dramatically in the last year, with the fastest street’s broadband more than 5,000 times quicker than the slowest’s.”
He added: “It’s great that more of us are enjoying ultrafast broadband, but we don’t want to see large swathes of the country left behind on shoddy connections that aren’t suitable for modern life.”
The Government has set out a draft strategy to connect one million homes and businesses with 1,000 Mbps broadband in the hardest-to-reach areas of the UK.
It is part of a plan to provide 85 per cent of the country with broadband capable of the speed by 2025.
Minister for Digital Infrastructure, Matt Warman, said: “We will begin these procurements rapidly so broadband providers big and small can move quickly to get the job done and level up communities with this much faster, next generation broadband.”
For more information visit www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/uk-streets-with-slowest-broadband-speed
