UK broadband is ranked 35th in the world

[sarraceniac]

Thought someone may be interested in this. Remember the Government's promise of making us a broadband leader made about 10 years ago. And the telephone tax is supposed to be going on soon to pay for it.

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Broadband in United Kingdom average speed of just 7.85Mb was very poor indeed as we are ranked 35th in the world according to a speedtest.net report.

Download Speed

1 208,120 634,098 South Korea 34.14 Mb/s
2 342,689 3,416,571 Latvia 24.23 Mb/s
3 182,448 1,798,057 Republic of Moldova 21.97 Mb/s
4 460,251 1,727,962 Japan 20.58 Mb/s
5 654,945 2,296,756 Sweden 20.07 Mb/s
6 1,576 8,667 Aland Islands 19.63 Mb/s
7 1,739,467 12,301,312 Romania 18.80 Mb/s
8 623,894 5,229,296 Bulgaria 17.77 Mb/s
9 1,388,205 8,652,244 Netherlands 17.41 Mb/s
10 404,772 3,581,595 Lithuania 17.22 Mb/s
11 3,592 15,923 Andorra 16.24 Mb/s
12 1,415,161 7,183,003 Portugal 14.73 Mb/s
13 492,016 1,751,570 Switzerland 13.84 Mb/s
14 1,119,437 5,325,491 Finland 13.70 Mb/s
15 35,361 161,426 Iceland 13.61 Mb/s
16 2,627 10,935 Liechtenstein 13.57 Mb/s
17 4,094,843 10,950,601 Germany 13.24 Mb/s
18 492,818 2,420,872 Denmark 13.01 Mb/s
19 1,015,390 3,197,177 Belgium 11.86 Mb/s
20 2,245,017 7,577,620 France 11.56 Mb/s
21 351,664 3,081,970 Czech Republic 11.22 Mb/s
22 150,092 728,933 Estonia 11.20 Mb/s
23 1,706,474 15,922,430 Hungary 11.16 Mb/s
24 294,522 2,062,231 Slovakia 11.04 Mb/s
25 562,522 2,524,641 Norway 10.82 Mb/s
26 1,622,303 19,420,661 Ukraine 10.72 Mb/s
27 804,592 3,604,687 Austria 10.55 Mb/s
28 5,086,255 37,833,567 Russia 10.37 Mb/s
29 34,583,666 161,349,239 United States 10.12 Mb/s
30 673,068 3,873,696 Singapore 8.84 Mb/s
31 73,890 307,450 Luxembourg 8.68 Mb/s
32 354,719 2,049,695 Slovenia 8.24 Mb/s
33 4,994,590 26,328,473 Canada 8.16 Mb/s
34 500,745 1,637,719 Taiwan 7.93 Mb/s
35 10,487,306 52,437,004 United Kingdom 7.85 Mb/s
36 1,639,459 10,917,866 Greece 7.65 Mb/s
37 23,847 525,046 Mongolia 6.98 Mb/s
38 2,842,753 17,665,479 Poland 6.87 Mb/s
39 3,439,349 14,517,569 Australia 6.66 Mb/s
40 9,097 54,517 Isle of Man 6.37 Mb/s
41 15,114 73,773 Ghana 6.34 Mb/s
42 739,080 3,675,941 New Zealand 6.22 Mb/s
43 818,623 4,833,695 Ireland 6.05 Mb/s
44 2,103,407 6,343,675 Spain 5.81 Mb/s
45 3,300 23,848 San Marino 5.71 Mb/s
46 38,619 311,904 Georgia 5.62 Mb/s
47 242,111 1,777,733 Macedonia 5.54 Mb/s
48 5,673 44,040 Faroe Islands 5.52 Mb/s
49 3,448 11,909 Monaco 5.43 Mb/s
50 583,846 2,226,217 Croatia 5.32 Mb/s
51 11,242 64,176 Maldives 5.16 Mb/s
52 1,313,426 6,198,768 Chile 5.07 Mb/s
53 46,725 216,680 Malta 5.06 Mb/s
54 2,899 16,612 Kyrgyzstan 5.02 Mb/s
55 1,484,786 4,012,738 Turkey 4.83 Mb/s
56 49,068 231,678 Jamaica 4.55 Mb/s
57 101,910 571,128 Trinidad and Tobago 4.51 Mb/s
58 22,362 71,734 Macau 4.47 Mb/s
59 6,344,960 28,975,451 Italy 4.45 Mb/s
60 1,098,194 3,969,629 Israel 4.24 Mb/s
61 179,495 635,159 Kazakstan 4.23 Mb/s
62 1,225,963 8,476,041 Thailand 4.03 Mb/s
63 32,863 144,592 Montenegro 3.78 Mb/s
64 6,042 21,789 Guernsey 3.75 Mb/s
65 132,532 537,862 Belarus 3.72 Mb/s
66 12,661 49,871 Aruba 3.63 Mb/s
67 928,563 7,180,565 Saudi Arabia 3.57 Mb/s
68 5,331 25,824 Grenada 3.52 Mb/s
69 4,223,310 14,974,804 Brazil 3.50 Mb/s
70 1,182 10,138 Rwanda 3.49 Mb/s
71 323,618 1,123,284 United Arab Emirates 3.41 Mb/s
72 85,565 586,088 Cyprus 3.34 Mb/s
73 100,981 467,600 Qatar 3.12 Mb/s
74 541,812 1,495,738 China 3.06 Mb/s
75 3,995 18,256 St. Vincent and Grenadines 3.01 Mb/s
76 6,491 22,343 Jersey 2.96 Mb/s
77 11,610 50,964 Guam 2.93 Mb/s
78 15,384 80,945 Bermuda 2.85 Mb/s
79 20,806 234,460 Kenya 2.84 Mb/s
80 535,417 4,643,767 Serbia 2.82 Mb/s
81 4,175 19,391 Gibraltar 2.74 Mb/s
82 132,060 1,141,975 Kuwait 2.69 Mb/s
83 180,560 1,126,990 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2.63 Mb/s
84 1,517 5,189 Greenland 2.62 Mb/s
85 35,982 259,020 Nicaragua 2.60 Mb/s
86 57,556 845,967 Azerbaijan 2.60 Mb/s
87 7,903 35,059 Bahamas 2.57 Mb/s
88 13,444 57,876 New Caledonia 2.40 Mb/s
89 83,976 656,964 Costa Rica 2.39 Mb/s
90 2,796 35,879 Uganda 2.34 Mb/s
91 3,226,185 14,478,650 Mexico 2.29 Mb/s
92 451,158 1,628,663 South Africa 2.28 Mb/s
93 12,236 62,973 Martinique 2.24 Mb/s
94 61,311 617,615 Bahrain 2.23 Mb/s
95 20,669 164,983 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 2.16 Mb/s
96 338,850 2,442,995 Puerto Rico 2.12 Mb/s
97 2,034 10,100 Cape Verde 2.10 Mb/s
98 8,394 38,785 Guadeloupe 2.09 Mb/s
99 167,208 676,204 Morocco 2.00 Mb/s
100 1,241,754 29,303,853 Philippines 2.00 Mb/s
101 1,190,695 3,700,487 Argentina 1.99 Mb/s
102 32,734 214,504 Netherlands Antilles 1.97 Mb/s
103 1,197 4,506 Anguilla 1.95 Mb/s
104 1,164,120 10,458,312 Malaysia 1.95 Mb/s
105 22,775 1,269,011 Albania 1.90 Mb/s
106 3,087 12,422 Turks and Caicos Islands 1.87 Mb/s
107 498,145 1,762,248 Vietnam 1.87 Mb/s
108 8,788 49,512 Cayman Islands 1.87 Mb/s
109 28,475 114,288 Barbados 1.85 Mb/s
110 33,068 562,722 Honduras 1.84 Mb/s
111 3,178 12,911 Saint Kitts and Nevis 1.83 Mb/s
112 5,974 30,215 Mozambique 1.80 Mb/s
113 2,711 9,328 British Virgin Islands 1.77 Mb/s
114 71,428 377,108 Panama 1.73 Mb/s
115 1,924 11,616 Dominica 1.73 Mb/s
116 1,810 22,165 Papua New Guinea 1.72 Mb/s
117 3,234 25,733 Saint Lucia 1.71 Mb/s
118 5,083 13,941 French Guiana 1.69 Mb/s
119 40,667 437,013 Armenia 1.68 Mb/s
120 135,099 1,248,175 Jordan 1.62 Mb/s
121 5,105 64,806 Laos 1.60 Mb/s
122 1,953 24,372 Belize 1.58 Mb/s
123 1,319,769 6,249,243 Colombia 1.54 Mb/s
124 381,784 3,219,251 Pakistan 1.54 Mb/s
125 12,596 48,786 Reunion 1.53 Mb/s
126 7,585 45,123 Botswana 1.43 Mb/s
127 6,039 18,528 Senegal 1.42 Mb/s
128 4,616 43,934 Antigua and Barbuda 1.41 Mb/s
129 137,969 842,451 Ecuador 1.37 Mb/s
130 50,924 188,493 Palestinian Territory 1.36 Mb/s
131 22,485 121,800 Oman 1.36 Mb/s
132 24,278 114,647 Syrian Arab Republic 1.32 Mb/s
133 2,404,916 12,487,531 India 1.31 Mb/s
134 121,803 326,601 Tunisia 1.28 Mb/s
135 4,301 28,433 Tanzania 1.28 Mb/s
136 397,974 1,191,956 Egypt 1.25 Mb/s
137 18,069 102,364 Uzbekistan 1.22 Mb/s
138 3,545 45,215 U.S. Virgin Islands 1.18 Mb/s
139 10,900 46,019 Namibia 1.17 Mb/s
140 23,984 234,437 Bangladesh 1.14 Mb/s
141 110,862 471,224 Algeria 1.13 Mb/s
142 187,195 650,674 Peru 1.13 Mb/s
143 85,213 519,516 Sri Lanka 1.09 Mb/s
144 1,096,268 15,651,518 Indonesia 1.03 Mb/s
145 90,799 208,833 Uruguay 1.02 Mb/s
146 10,162 56,967 Fiji 0.97 Mb/s
147 12,782 145,607 Cambodia 0.97 Mb/s
148 1,858 12,412 Northern Mariana Islands 0.96 Mb/s
149 11,601 106,360 Brunei Darussalam 0.91 Mb/s
150 16,837 81,445 Sudan 0.88 Mb/s
151 419,460 2,161,698 Venezuela 0.77 Mb/s
152 1,389 6,115 Burkina Faso 0.75 Mb/s
153 1,227 3,832 Mauritania 0.75 Mb/s
154 153,993 694,466 Dominican Republic 0.74 Mb/s
155 4,087 29,746 Madagascar 0.73 Mb/s
156 42,890 240,466 Bolivia 0.72 Mb/s
157 20,324 110,936 Nigeria 0.71 Mb/s
158 5,131 83,217 Iraq 0.68 Mb/s
159 4,196 15,049 Cote D'Ivoire 0.67 Mb/s
160 39,948 245,809 Paraguay 0.66 Mb/s
161 3,565 18,743 Angola 0.64 Mb/s
162 1,202 6,942 Gabon 0.62 Mb/s
163 42,011 334,139 Lebanon 0.61 Mb/s
164 156,894 552,811 Islamic Republic of Iran 0.60 Mb/s
165 3,455 25,292 Haiti 0.59 Mb/s
166 2,359 11,487 Mali 0.58 Mb/s
167 88,194 379,465 El Salvador 0.56 Mb/s
168 1,863 16,518 Afghanistan 0.54 Mb/s
169 23,069 60,860 Mauritius 0.53 Mb/s
170 5,708 26,425 Suriname 0.51 Mb/s
171 126,183 839,668 Guatemala 0.48 Mb/s
172 1,485 2,760 French Polynesia 0.48 Mb/s
173 20,407 97,677 Nepal 0.48 Mb/s
174 5,272 29,866 Cameroon 0.46 Mb/s
175 1,169 13,598 Zimbabwe 0.45 Mb/s
176 4,904 31,666 Yemen 0.44 Mb/s
177 2,523 11,420 Guyana 0.43 Mb/s
178 1,643 13,615 Zambia 0.26 Mb/s

[Jeanied]

What does the 10,487,306 52,437,004 after the 35 mean, Sarraceniac? Just curious.

[pdblake]

I would think it means users compared to population.

I also believe that the phone tax has been given the chop.

[sarraceniac]

I would think it means users compared to population.

I also believe that the phone tax has been given the chop.

Spot on PD.

Edit. Hadn't realised it had been dropped (for now) but you are right. I really objected to it. Not the mere £6 a year but the idea of everyone with a telephone having to subsidise BT's expansion really annoyed me. No doubt when they made loads of extra money out of it, they would have given it back.

[Jeanied]

Thass odd - I thought the UK population was over 61 million. 11 million is rather a big variance. Irrelevant to the discussion, sorry.

[sarraceniac]

That is the total population. This is (presumably) the adult population.

Don't know why they stop giving that figure later in the list. But I don't think it is relevant to the rankings anyway.

[matthew2riches]

That is interesting.... I'm off to South Korea, see ya

[Flummery]

We have a theoretical 8 mb here on Karoo - our local system from Hull which we have no option but to use. Probably is if you live next door to the telephone exchange. Our broadband is hovering around 2 mb - it's useless trying to watch iplayer and I have to be in a patient mood even to watch people's lottie videos here. We spend more time watching the little thing go round saying 'buffering' than watching the vid!

[Guttata]

We use poor condition copper wires which were in no way designed to carry the stuff we have it carrying now. Countries like Japan and South Korea when they build cities or upgrade them have broadband over optical cable as part of the design process.

If you think the £6 tax to upgrade the network is bad and are glad it is gone think of this. Do you really think BT is going to take this one on without hitting us? They will just increase the bills to cover it instead and still give themselves a profit. It is understandable BT is a business after all and so is in it to do what any business is in it for and that is profit. It is not a charity.

[BigShot]

Could the big numbers mean how many are connected to broadband? Just a thought.

Did you ever see this?
75-year-old has world's fastest private internet connection ? The Register


Flummery... You're right to think "next door to the exchange" is key. I live about half a mile from our local exchange and see a significantly lower connection speed than people with the same provider who live a street or two away from it. The "up to" line before the speed really irritates me. Imagine a pub selling beer in measures "up to a pint" - giving you a half and saying "we said "up to" - measures can vary". There'd be a riot... or a weights and measures act at very least.

[Bigmallly]

It's a shame they didn't give the high & low speeds instead of the average. I regularly get 19mb on my speedcheck.

[RoadCar]

I don't really understand broadband speed, and Flummery I have heard bad things about Karoo, It is a shame you cannot get another provider do you know why it is like that?

[Guttata]

Not just next to an exchange. The signal can travel a few hundred yards before even leaving the exchange, I have read in some it is as much as 500-700. Add to that the quality of the line to your residence, then the quality of line with in the residence. It all affects it.

Then we can move on to the contention ratio and throttling. BT is throttling iPlayer at peak times as they are trying to gt companies who stream to put into the pot for the line upgrades.

Then we can move on to wireless connections which is a whole other kettle of fish.

BS I was wondering that about the numbers too.

You can't compare line speeds to weights and measures. The ISPs can not guarantee the quality of the wiring so will not do it for the speed. In the UK a pint is a pint there is no ifs, buts or maybes about it.

Flummery are you trying to watch standard or HD progs? If HD you need a minimum of 3meg down. Have you used their speed tester? It tells you if you can use their services and which ones: BBC iPlayer - Diagnostics

Also what time are you getting the problems?

[BigShot]

The weights and measures bit was a bit tongue in cheek, but it is underhand selling 8mb broadband to someone who will never see even half that speed... they can't guarantee a speed, but considering all the factors you mentioned they can guarantee that someone living a mile from the exchange, with old wires and all the rest will not get anything close to those speeds.

Technical limitations are technical limitations. This is a matter of honesty in sales and advertising (so obviously I'm not holding my breath for a change ).

It's a similar issue to Unlimited* packages.

* = "this is a complete lie".

If they can't (or won't) deliver something they shouldn't sell it. I wonder how many have seen actual download speeds of more than 20% of what we're sold.
Our connection is sold as 4mbps and the best download I've ever seen just cracked 250kpbs. I'm happy enough with speeds like that this far from an exchange - but at no point was I ever going to see 4mbps, so why were we sold that?

We knew we'd get around 10% of the quoted speed on an incredibly rare good day (back in the 56k days where 5kbps was a good day, it's more like 6% now) but that doesn't excuse what can only be called false advertising.

I'd be happy with that Swedish granny's connection though!

[TEB]

The weights and measures bit was a bit tongue in cheek, but it is underhand selling 8mb broadband to someone who will never see even half that speed... they can't guarantee a speed, but considering all the factors you mentioned they can guarantee that someone living a mile from the exchange, with old wires and all the rest will not get anything close to those speeds.

Technical limitations are technical limitations. This is a matter of honesty in sales and advertising (so obviously I'm not holding my breath for a change ).

It's a similar issue to Unlimited* packages.

* = "this is a complete lie".

If they can't (or won't) deliver something they shouldn't sell it. I wonder how many have seen actual download speeds of more than 20% of what we're sold.
Our connection is sold as 4mbps and the best download I've ever seen just cracked 250kpbs. I'm happy enough with speeds like that this far from an exchange - but at no point was I ever going to see 4mbps, so why were we sold that?

We knew we'd get around 10% of the quoted speed on an incredibly rare good day (back in the 56k days where 5kbps was a good day, it's more like 6% now) but that doesn't excuse what can only be called false advertising.

I'd be happy with that Swedish granny's connection though!

Because its impossible to say how much you will eventually get, providers maybe able to give a good enough guess if the lines ran straight from Exchange to your house but obviously they dont as they run down dale and over mountain, I would say though that your speed of 256kbps down is extremely bad and there is either a fault on the line/device or you must live near the end of the recommended distance from Exchange.