If you're only uploading the odd photo, video or email attachment, this sort of speed should be sufficient. But if you know that you'll need to upload lots of large files on a regular basis, it's worth investing in a package that offers faster upload speeds.
On top of this, when you sign up with a broadband provider, you should always be given an actual speed estimate for your home — a minimum guaranteed speed. If you find the connection is slower than what was discussed, speak to your provider about possible solutions. One of the most common reasons for having slower speeds than those advertised is due to the type of broadband connection. Fixed line broadband services, which use copper telephone wires to connect you to the web, are affected by the distance that a signal will have to travel along the wire in order to reach your house.
So, the further you live from your local telephone exchange, the slower your broadband will be. Fibre optic connections claim to get around this problem by using faster wires, but they still commonly use slow-speed copper wires to connect your home with the nearest broadband street cabinet.
While you may be paying for lightning fast speeds from the telephone exchange to the cabinet, the last few metres between your house and the cabinet could slow things down considerably. If this is a problem that affects you, then there's no point in paying for an advertised broadband speed that your home can't achieve due to its location. Before you splurge on the fastest broadband speed available, consider what you actually use the internet for.
Which broadband provider is fastest? What's the fastest non-fibre broadband service? Will I get the advertised broadband speed? What broadband speed do I need?
What affects broadband speed? Are there any cons to choosing the fastest broadband available? Can I boost my broadband speed? What's the fastest broadband in my area? Check your postcode. Fibre optic broadband is much faster than standard broadband. If you live a long way from the nearest exchange and cannot get FTTP broadband, then your speeds are likely to be slower.
That last stretch to your house is often where speeds can slow right down. Your router and where you put it. Most providers now offer faster, AC standard WiFi routers. However, if you place the router close to your landline connection downstairs and then try to stream content in a distant bedroom or office, then the connection is likely to be slower. If you have thick walls, this can also be a problem. The simple fact is that more people using the network means it will likely slow down.
Providers tend not to slow down speeds artificially any more, but if everyone in your area is trying to access the internet at the same time using the same provider, then you can expect slower speeds.
Other devices. Remember that placing your router close to other electrical devices can cause interference, slowing down the speed available. Frequently asked questions. Compare broadband deals in your area. Location Compare. Why do we need your postcode? We don't want to show you a load of deals that you can't actually get, so by giving us your postcode we show you only the deals that are available where you live. However if you live in a home with more than one Internet user, perhaps other family members or housemates, then you can quickly discover that you need several times that at times when everyone's using your connection, especially if more than one of you wants to stream video.
If you currently experience regular buffering of videos and slowdowns when other people are using your connection then you'd also very likely benefit from a speed upgrade. If you're not currently using a cable or fibre service then switching from standard broadband to a superfast connection will most definitely produce a significant speed improvement. If you're already on cable or fibre and on a slower package, this speed reduction is likely to be artificially enforced.
Switching to a package with a higher speed limit will likely see a significant increase in your speeds. On Virgin Media cable services this is likely to always be the case, as their lines are rated to be able to achieve the maximum speeds. On a fibre to the cabinet service such as BT Infinity , your distance from the street cabinet can reduce the maximum speed that your line can support. If you're currently on a half speed up to 38Mb service and currently seeing less that 38Mb then it's unlikely that you'll be able to benefit from switching to a faster package.
If you get the full 38Mb then you still may not get the full 76Mb when you upgrade but instead get a lower figure between those two, determined by your line length. If you're unsure about this, your provider will be able to give you an accurate estimate of the maximum speed your line can support. If you're only able to switch from one standard phoneline broadband service to another then speed changes are unlikely to be as significant as switching from one broadband technology to another.
However if you're on a smaller budget provider then factors such as traffic management and peak time congestion may be slowing you down either due to artificial limits or the supplier's network capacity being saturated. In this case switching to a more expensive small provider with a better reputation, or switching to a larger supplier who has invested in their network capacity to allow them to advertise a 'truly unlimited' service may result in faster download speeds at peak times i.
However this is unlikely to be a very significant improvement, no more than increasing your evening speed to what you're currently able to achieve at off peak times like the early morning.
If this is the case then LLU providers like TalkTalk or Sky may have put their own equipment into your exchange, allowing you to possibly get increases in speed of more than double. However the size of this increase will depend on line length in terms of distance from the telephone exchange. If you're currently seeing maximum speeds of 7. But if you're a very long distance from the exchange you may see no increase, or only a small increase of 0.
Our availability checker should be able to give you some idea of the speed difference you'll likely see and your new provider must give you an accurate estimate of speeds before you sign up. Read our privacy policy OK. Broadband Speed Test Put your connection to the test and find out how fast it really performs. Loading, please wait UK average broadband speeds for October Chart showing the average download speeds across tests carried out by users of the broadband.
A number of providers are also rolling out full fibre connections. This technology is also called fibre-to-the-premises, or FTTP broadband. As the name suggests, this involves fibre-optic cables running all the way from the broadband exchange to your home, which can offer speeds in excess of Mbps 1Gbps. The government recently announced Project Gigabit to speed this process up though. Adding this to providers' efforts to grow their own FTTP networks means that full fibre will likely be available to you in the next couple of years.
Simply put, checking your postcode to see exactly what's available in your area is the best way to find out how you can get the right broadband for your needs. Our own research at Uswitch discovered that nearly one fifth of homes achieve speeds of less than 10Mbps, while one in ten can be as slow as 5Mbps.
Ofcom has pointed out this is very unlikely to be enough to cover the average family's demand for internet, especially when accounting for music and TV streaming. Thankfully, there has been a big push in the last couple of years to provide gigabit broadband speeds for as many UK homes as possible this decade.
This is an ambitious target, but it should hopefully mean that soon those suffering on slow connections will get faster, more reliable speeds in the coming years. If your property can't access gigabit broadband yet, it's still worth checking Uswitch to see if you could benefit from switching providers. Especially if you're in a rural area, and you feel you aren't getting the speeds you need. Take a look at our broadband availability checker guide to learn more about the different broadband types in your area.
Our broadband postcode checker will quickly show you if your location can access fibre broadband, and at what speeds. You can then filter the deals that come up to only show fibre broadband packages. We'd recommend making use of our fibre-optic broadband checker to ensure you're pricing up exactly what you need and can access it in your area.
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