Town where it takes 41hrs to download a movie...
IT is known as the gateway to Royal Deeside but it is unlikely the residents of Balmoral have to wait more than a day to watch their movie of choice.
An area in the affluent town of Banchory, Aberdeenshire, has Scotland’s slowest broadband, according to new analysis.
For the unfortunate residents of the town’s Grant Road, it would take more than 41 hours to download a two-hour HD film, compared to just 62 seconds in Murrayfield Terrace in Bannockburn, Stirling, which was the country’s top-performing street.
With an average download speed of 0.28Mbps, sluggish broadband in Grant Road is 2,375 times slower than Murrayfield Terrace, where average download speeds reached 665Mbps over the past year.
The fastest and slowest areas have been named and shamed after 276,083 consumer speed tests were analysed by comparison site Uswitch.com.
The village of Berriedale, on the northern east coast of Caithness, recorded the second slowest speed, with an average of 0.40Mbps, and was followed by Earlish, in Portree.
The best areas to live if you want speedy connections are Dalhousie Crescent in Dalkeith, Raith Drive in Cumbernauld, and Ruchill Street, Glasgow. The worst areas also include Rolland Avenue, Kirkcaldy; Houston Gardens, Broxburn; and Duncan Drive, Elgin.
Murrayfield Terrace is 389Mbps quicker than last year’s fastest street, which analysts said showed the improvements in ultrafast broadband infrastructure across Scotland with the rollout of full-fibre broadband.
Generally, a good internet or broadband speed is around 11Mbps for standard broadband. A faster broadband speed would be between 11Mbps and 50Mbps.
A very fast broadband speed would be 100Mbps or higher.
Despite poor examples highlighted in the latest research, the number of households enjoying faster speeds is said to be increasing.
Two-fifths of UK users (43 per cent) now get superfast speeds of more than 30Mbps, which is almost double than those (22%) six years ago.
But despite superfast broadband being available to 96% of the country, and ultrafast to 62%, a recent
Uswitch survey found that four in 10 households (40%) are unaware they can access it in their local area.
The number of speed tests is up 124% on 2019’s tally of 122,845, with the dramatic rise suggesting consumers have been paying closer attention to the performance of their home broadband since the start of the pandemic.
Ernest Doku, a broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said:“at a time when so many of us rely on our broadband for work, streaming films, TV and gaming, it’s hard to imagine how frustrating such a slow connection must be.
“Residents of this year’s fastest street, Murrayfield Terrace, could download a film in 62 seconds – where it would take those living in Grant Road more than 41 hours to do the same thing.
“Of the 10 slowest streets, nine could have access to faster broadband, so we urge residents there – and anyone else unhappy with their broadband speeds – to do a quick search online to see what speeds they could be getting with another provider.”
In January, Openreach unveiled plans for upgrades to thousands of homes and businesses in Scotland’s rural communities.
Aviemore, Thurso, Buckie, Findochty, Buckpool, Elgin, Forres and Lossiemouth are among 60 small and rural towns and villages in line for upgrades.
It is hoped access to some of the fastest broadband speeds in Europe will boost their post-covid recovery.