G7 countries outgun UK in worldwide broadband speed test
- Reference: 1631624467
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/14/broadband_speed_tests/
- Source link:
Canada (24th), France (19th), Germany (36th), Japan (13th) and the US (14th) all out-performed the UK (43rd), according to the numbers.
Countries ranking highest are those with a strong focus on pure fibre (FTTP) networks, with those countries dawdling too much on FTTC and ADSL solutions slipping further down year on year...
And despite the UK's [2]ongoing commitment to rolling out fibre, Rocio Concha, director of Policy and Advocacy at consumer watchdog Which?, was unimpressed by the findings.
"The pandemic highlighted the importance of a good broadband connection, so the UK's position languishing behind much of Europe, the US, Canada and New Zealand for broadband speeds is concerning and should serve as a wake-up call.
"This is why, as a minimum, it is vital that the government's ambition for gigabit-capable broadband availability across 85 per cent of the UK by 2025 is realised and consumers are encouraged to take up these faster, more reliable connections where they are available."
[3]
Despite the stinging criticism, media watchdog Ofcom has warned people against jumping to conclusions.
[4]
[5]
A spokesperson for the UK regulator told us that comparisons like this "should be treated with caution."
"The speeds people actually get and the speeds people could get are not the same thing. Superfast broadband is available to the vast majority of UK homes, but millions of people are yet to take this up. Many customers might be surprised to learn they can upgrade to faster speeds, for no extra cost,” they said.
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Indeed, when it comes to speed, all the G7 nations are whipped by smaller nations. According to Cable.co.uk , Jersey tops the list with means download speeds of 274.27Mbps, followed by Liechtenstein (211.26Mbps), Iceland (191.83Mbps), Andorra (164.66Mbps) and Gibraltar (151.34Mbps).
As Cable.co.uk notes, it's no coincidence that all are either very small or island nations (in Western Europe). "It is much easier to roll out FTTP full fibre broadband and 5G mobile internet to a smaller population and/or across a smaller area."
[7]Grotesque soundbyte alert: UK government opens wallet to help rural areas get 'gigafit'
[8]Why won't you copper-ate? Openreach offers capped fibre line rental to wholesalers in bid to shift all that FTTP
[9]Openreach to UK businesses: Switch is about to hit the fan. Prepare for withdrawal of the copper-based phone network now or risk disruption
[10]Openreach slaps another 5 million premises on top of FTTP connection target, expects to pay 'minimal tax in the UK' over next few years
Other big hitters include the Netherlands in ninth spot (107.3Mbps), the US in 15th place (92.4Mbps), and France (85.96Mbps) a few places behind at number 19.
Germany (60.55Mbps) is ranked number 37 in the world, six ahead of 43rd placed UK (51.48Mbps), which only just nudged Ireland (51.41Mbps). Italy (61st) registered mean download speeds of 36.69Mbps.
Turkmenistan – with a recorded download rate of 0.50Mbps – was the worst ranking nation for broadband speeds.
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"Europe absolutely dominates the leaderboard once again thanks to largely excellent infrastructure,” said Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk.
"In all cases, those countries ranking highest are those with a strong focus on pure fibre (FTTP) networks, with those countries dawdling too much on FTTC and ADSL solutions slipping further down year-on-year," he said, before adding, "much of Europe remains ahead of the UK in terms of FTTP rollout and uptake."
VMO2 – the 2021 "summer of love" child of [12]Virgin Media and O2 – was quick to point out that it's doing its bit for UK Plc.
A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: "Our average download speed is 195Mbps – nearly four times faster than the UK average – meaning if Virgin Media O2 was a country it would be the third fastest on the planet. We are the largest gigabit broadband provider in the UK and will connect our entire network of more than 15 million homes to gigabit speeds by the end of the year."
In May, Openreach - the UK's largest broadband utility - [13]promised to plumb its fibre directly into 25 million homes and business (FTTP) by the end of 2026 , an increase of five million against its previous target.
The accelerated roll-out – including a revamped build rate of adding four million new premises a year compared to three million – was sweetened thanks to a Treasury-dangling [14]tax break for full-fibre builds . BT's Openreach can rely on a super-deduction, introduced in the 2021 Budget, that allows it to claim 130 per cent capital allowances on its "qualifying" equipment investment. This translates to the org as a whole paying "minimal tax in the UK" over next few years, it said in May this year.
No one from Openreach was available to comment at the time of writing. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/speed/worldwide-speed-league/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/19/uk_project_gigabit/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YUDHQAIFq6ehNvOlDATMggAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YUDHQAIFq6ehNvOlDATMggAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YUDHQAIFq6ehNvOlDATMggAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YUDHQAIFq6ehNvOlDATMggAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/19/uk_project_gigabit/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/01/openreach_offers_capped_fibre_line/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/01/openreach_ptsn_warning/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/13/openreach_fttp_target/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YUDHQAIFq6ehNvOlDATMggAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/14/cma_gives_nod_to_virgin/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/13/openreach_fttp_target/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/13/openreach_fttp_target/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I'm not surprised
No surprise that they go for the easy wins. The small villages, cul-de-sacs and other dead ends will be at the back of the queue, digging roads is expensive. It doesn't stop the publicity machine though, once the fibre arrives within a mile or two the local news is all over it even though that bit is the problem.
My local town is all fibred up but unless you are on a trunk/through road it's hurry up and wait.
Re: I'm not surprised
Up until just under 2 weeks ago, my 'broadband' ADSL link struggled to break 500kb/s in either direction.
The village now has FTTC and VDSL so I now get about 9Mb/s up and around 34 - 36 Mb/sec down. Not bad really - does the job I need it to do and as the article notes, the upgrade came at no extra cost.
Note that although I am in a rural area it is really not far from medium size towns (or even a city - Plymouth is only about 16 miles away).
Re: I'm not surprised
@ Electronics'R'Us
Good speeds. We're not remotely rural and get about 8 Mb/s down over FTTC from a cabinet about 300 yards away.
Re: I'm not surprised
I suppose I don't feel too hard done by with my 13/1 Mbit DSL connection in that case, even though it's a bit shit for a suburb of a supposedly high-tech city. I forget what it's supposed to be "up to" but it's only ever a small fraction and there's the risk of a punitive call-out fee if I want Openreach to come and see if there's a fault and they say "nah, looks fine to me".
As for slightly less low-tech alternatives... well there's Openreach, or rather there isn't because it has no plans for FTTP in this area for the foreseeable future. We admittedly have Virgin available in some capacity (dunno if they do FTTP or if it's still just coax) but I haven't used them in years because of their lamentable customer support which is relevant as they're down as often as they're up, so, er... well, lagging behind it is.
Re: I'm not surprised
Something that could be perfect for a small local business to pick up. But I assume the big players got enough regulatory capture, so that anyone other than them (or with stuffed pockets) can't actually become a provider.
I'm in city which now has gig-fibre, that said I'm yet to upgrade mostly because the ISP's who can serve it to me are utter garbage tier one being talktalk, and I'm waiting to see if some other decide to pull their finger out and provide the service.
A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: "Our average download speed is 195Mbps – nearly four times faster than the UK average – meaning if Virgin Media O2 was a country it would be the third fastest on the planet."
I'm sure the rest of the UK's broadband suppliers would be equally fast if they could heavily cherry pick which areas they supplied and didn't go near anyone even remotely rural.
I'm surprised that the USA does so well - unless they are only counting broadband speeds among those who CAN get broadband - and not counting big bits away from the coasts.
Same for Canada, since the whole population live in downtown Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver it's easy to run fibre to them. But a small town of a 1000 people, an hour outside one of those cities we got cable 3 years ago - before that we had 6mbs ADSL
Virgin media averages 53.85 over 1,512,184 tests - where are their numbers ?
I would love to know where they are getting those numbers from because the public tests of their network show 53.85 Log Avg (Mbps) over 1,512,184 tests.
wondering if they make false advertising about their speeds then can they be fined ?
"Specialist" Dan is a bit clueless
His whole FTTP vs FTTC thing is definitely only half of the story. See VMO2 in that story. Not exactly FTTP/FTTC related is it? Now I can immediately name 2 countries in Europe that do a lot better than the UK regardless of FTTP roll out: Belgium and Netherlands. In both cases cable TV is in over 90% of the houses and cable internet has been what has pushed up average bandwidth for 2 decades already and at a far more significant rate than FTTP.
Actually connecting premises might help.....
I'm betting OFCOM count my property as having access to FTTP, despite Cityfibre not bothering to run fibre to my entire street and just going across the end of it.
I suspect there are thousands across the UK in the same position.
real numbers - Performance - Log Avg Throughput in UK (Mbps)
across 7,301,264 tests in the UK
the Log Avg download speed was 24.1 Mbps
the Log Avg upload speed was 7.21 Mbps
these are from [1]https://speed.measurementlab.net/
which is what the USA used for their updated broadband map... why does the UK not have a broadband map?
go measure your own speed and contribute to the data set. [2]https://speed.measurementlab.net/
[1] https://speed.measurementlab.net/
[2] https://speed.measurementlab.net/
A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: "Our average download speed is 195Mbps
I fart in the general direction of Virgin spokesperson's 195Mbps, and my 30-days notice's in the post, just had enough of being ripped off with Virgin yearly price hikes. And we hardly use (4 people, including 2 teens) about 20% of our bandwidth anyway.
p.s. and I fart in the general direction of Okla, etc, as that speed has not relevance whatsoever to what real-life speed we actually _need_.
Methodology?
Did they take aggregate speed divided by number of connections, or aggregate speed divided by the number of households in the country?
Also, were the speeds real-world, or 'capable'?
Those can make a big difference. The UK approach of "give as many as possible a reasonably fast connection" is very different to the US "cherry pick the places we can deliver a really fast service to and ignore anywhere else"
Gigabit Broadband?
Having been working at home since last March with at times last year two teenagers running school/university stuff and my wife delivering Primary School lessons from home all video, Teams or Zoom, our FTTC has been more than adequate. Even with loads of streaming going on it was perfectly
Maybe I am missing something but for most users having something at the 50Mb to 70Mb that FTTC delivers is surely enough. If everyone has gigabit what exactly is going to happen when it is all aggregated at the upstream equipment?
It is much like claiming your car can do 155mph or 230mph unlimited. There is only a very limited use-case.
Re: Gigabit Broadband?
Maybe I am missing something but for most users having something at the 50Mb to 70Mb that FTTC delivers is surely enough.
Careful; in some places opinions like that are seen as heresy. Somebody somewhere will be heating up the tar and collecting feathers...
FWIW I agree with you...
"could have faster" I can agree with.
"could have faster at no extra cost" is, I'm afraid, a pile of porkies.
Unless, of course, you include the "minimum term 48 months, price rockets after 18 months and you must take our hideously overpriced TV package as well to qualify" deals, which is comparing apples with turds.
I'm not surprised
They built a block of flats behind our house. Openreach ran a load of fibre for them and put the hole in the pavement at the bottom of our path but we do not qualify for it and still have to rely on a bit of copper from a telegraph pole as do the rest of the houses. Some company dug up the neighbouring road early this year but no word on when they will dig up our road or when it will be connected.