Broadband speed survey by mattprecey User Flag
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What was your fastest broadband speed test reading?

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  • 22,848 views
  • 16,311 responses
  • 55 comments
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  • Starts:   07th January 2011 @ 2:36pm
  • Ends:   28th February 2011 @ 2:36pm

Map Key
       0 - 0.5 Mbps
       0.5 - 1 Mbps
       1 - 2.5 Mbps
       2.5 - 5 Mbps
       5 - 7.5 Mbps
       7.5 - 10 Mbps
       10 - 12.5 Mbps
       12.5 - 15 Mbps
       15 - 20 Mbps
       More than 20 Mbps
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Description

A simple survey designed to provide a rough indication of broadband speeds across the east of England.

Keywords

Broadband speed look east rural england urban

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Speed? by CivicSolutions UserFlagImage - Friday, 07 January 2011 @ 16:59 I asume you mean Upload speed.
Reading the Map by John.kirby@btinternet.com UserFlagImage - Monday, 14 February 2011 @ 16:20 Really hard to differentiate between the tones of the terracotta colour used on the map. Different colours or hues would work better I think
Area Resolution by Statman UserFlagImage - Sunday, 20 February 2011 @ 16:25 Use of only outcode part of postcode gives a crude indication. Real problem areas will be hidden. If incodes could be shown and assuming enough responses the picture would be more interesting.
Wrong Enf of the Village - BT take note 0.27Mbps!! by Robbbo UserFlagImage - Sunday, 20 February 2011 @ 18:17 This map will not tell you how unfair things really are. Here in Spooner Row at 6pm I have 0.27Mbps and the best I have ever achieved is 1.02Mbps. 300 meters down the road other residents will be getting 6Mbps. The BBC iplayer is not an option in this household.
Speed variations by Ajs UserFlagImage - Sunday, 20 February 2011 @ 22:52 Broadband speeds have deteriorated rapidly over the last few weeks - and this is within the city boundary of Cambridge. Whilst the BBC speedchecker says it is 0.1Mb, BT, who provides the 'service' say it is 5Mb. Given that using iPlayer is impossible and any downloads are now slower than they used to be with dialup, I believe the BBC speedchecker to be more accurate. It is very surprising that BT Infinity is not available here - even though we are very close to the Science Park. So, service levels are decreasing, BT has just increased its prices .. and customers, even within city boundaries, get very poor value for money.
Slow Speed by BD UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 9:32 I do not know how BT can justify charging £29 a month when for the majority of the time I can only get .1Mb. For a very short time I managed 1Mb but that soon went back down to .1Mb. I get fed up receiving their adverts for ultra fast speeds, I would be happy just to get a constant 1Mb.
dogman by Dogman UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 14:14 The speed checker on BBC website shows 1.7mbs,however running checks on line at various times sometimes I only get 0.7 mbs.One of the problems here in Spixworth I have been told ( by a BT engineer) the connectors on the telephone poles in our village are made of aluminium.These get corroded and degrade the connection.Apparently fiber optic takes connections from Norwich into the nearest exchange to us which is in Horsham St Faiths.From there to Spixworth it is very old copper cable.That plus aluminium connectors means we have very low speeds.
Old postcode database means useless information by Triumphsprintst0 UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:10 Some Cambridge postcodes changed around 5 years ago. Our village changed from CB1 to CB21 but the system reports a general fault if you try to enter the new postcode. It does accept the old one but this covered a huge area (hence the change) so our village results (0.4mbps, thank you NOT) are now invisible as they will appear as part of the Cambridge average. Not very impressive if the postcodes are not updated from 5 years ago.
bt internet by Guitarman UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:20 2 years of 0.5 download then checked with neighbours who averaged from 5.5meg to 6.5meg.....After 3 weeks of daily pestering BT's helpline... 3 visits from Open Reach ( the line and exchange provider) engineers...cancellation of contract etc. I received a call from a Great Britain call centre.... within a couple of days, my download speed went up to 7.8meg...ie. 15 times faster than my original....BT,s reply... My broadband speed was CAPPED @ 0.5meg... Why I do not know......speed is now a fairly constant 5.5meg . Just check in your locale to ensure you're not capped too.
Eh? by Earthling18755 UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:23 Can't get this map to show results. What am I doing wrong?
Map colours by Mistletoegal UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:24 I haven't got any key colours on the map. Just a standard map of the East of England. I've tried refreshing and moving the transparency bar but to no avail.
Do live within 10 miles of Framlingham? by FramBroadband UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:24 If so please contact me or look at our website (if you can!) www.frambroadband.com We provide radio broadband to not-spots and general users in this area. We're also keen to expand our business.
Have we crashed the site? by Earthling18755 UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:28 Same here........... Mistletoegal. Will try again tomorrow.
Map colours by Mistletoegal UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:29 I haven't got any key colours on the map. Just a standard map of the East of England. I've tried refreshing and moving the transparency bar but to no avail.
Do live within 10 miles of Framlingham? by FramBroadband UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:29 If so please contact me or look at our website (if you can!) www.frambroadband.com We provide radio broadband to not-spots and general users in this area. We're also keen to expand our business.
BBC speed check by Rfbarry UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:32 The speed checker suggested on the website is inconsistent and in fact wrong. It only measures the speed to the BBC website and seems to vary significantly dependant on traffic. Shows speeds for me from 2 to 8 Mbits/sec when sites like broadband speedchecker and speedtest.net show 9.5 to 9.85 Mbits/sec consistently. Unfortunately the survey, which was a good idea, will be technically useless.
Do live within 10 miles of Framlingham? by FramBroadband UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:32 If so please contact me or look at our website (if you can!) www.frambroadband.com We provide radio broadband to not-spots and general users in this area. We're also keen to expand our business.
BBC speed check by Rfbarry UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:33 The speed checker suggested on the website is inconsistent and in fact wrong. It only measures the speed to the BBC website and seems to vary significantly dependant on traffic. Shows speeds for me from 2 to 8 Mbits/sec when sites like broadband speedchecker and speedtest.net show 9.5 to 9.85 Mbits/sec consistently. Unfortunately the survey, which was a good idea, will be technically useless.
Have we crashed the site? by Earthling18755 UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:40 Same here........... Mistletoegal. Will try again tomorrow.
What broadband by The Q UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:42 I live about five miles from the nearest exchange, the nearest box is a mile and a half away, The cable from there runs just under the grass verge to this group of houses and has been damaged by tractors going into fields, the last time it was repaired the BT man said even if they fibre optic to cabinet (unlikely) we would still be unlikely to get broad band The Q
Refresh map by Waterman UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:44 Can I assume that so many of us are supplying data, because our connections are sooooo slow, that refreshing the map has failed?
No maps colours and speedtest range of survey by Wind-blown UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:55 The map element of your results does not show the distribution of results according to the colour key. Also you have limited the maximum speed to >20Mb, when some folk subscribe to 50Mb and 100Mb connections. My Virgin Media results are consistently at 50Mb on a 50Mb line. lol@civicsolutions comment. I'm afraid they mean download. Our expectations in this country are very low, hence our poor broadband infrastructure. Pleased to say I am on the 200Mb trial in Coventry. I consistently get 190Mb down and 17Mb up.
No maps colours and speedtest range of survey by Wind-blown UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:58 The map element of your results does not show the distribution of results according to the colour key. Also you have limited the maximum speed to >20Mb, when some folk subscribe to 50Mb and 100Mb connections. My Virgin Media results are consistently at 50Mb on a 50Mb line. lol@civicsolutions comment. I'm afraid they mean download. Our expectations in this country are very low, hence our poor broadband infrastructure. Pleased to say I am on the 200Mb trial in Coventry. I consistently get 190Mb down and 17Mb up.
SITE CRASHED by Philtar UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 19:59 KEEP GETTING SAME MAP OF NORFOLK NO COLORS
Broadband Speed Survey by FlyingBrian UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 20:08 Done the test at 1945hrs this evening.However, like it would also appear like others that, I'm getting no results on the map.Also I would agree with some others that just putting the first part of the postcode is too vague an area to give a meaningful result.
SurveyMapper Map Issues by Sjg UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 20:33 Hey everyone, We have had a lot of requests for the map in the last few hours. We are working to restore the map as quickly as possible so please hang in there with us. The map will be back online tomorrow morning at the latest but rest assured all of your responses have been saved. Please check back tomorrow to see the updated map. Steve Support@SurveyMapper
No broadband at all by Philmate UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 21:09 No box to tick for no usable telephone line based broadband as we have in ip143rn
oh wonderful! by Snailspeed UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 21:43 This survey is nearly as good as my very underperforming broadband connection......but I guess we must be thankful for small mercies, at least someone is taking an interest in the predicament of rural areas with regard to useless internet access.....good luck! at least here in the dereham area we MAY be getting a speed enhancement.........which is not before time, my Son, 5 miles from dereham exchange manages, on a good day he gets 8-900k, averages 5-600k...... lets hope this effort brings some results.....but judging by bt's performance of late, i'm not going to hold my breath. oops!, I take it all back....map is now working....well done
as good as BT's service by Frodo UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 23:04 as others have said with only a broad postcode address this survey will not show anything usefull. service changes depending on how away from the exchange you are, and as most of us have rubbish old bt lines you only have to be a mile or so from the exchange to have terrible service.why not have the true details if you want to try and prove something?this survey will not show anything we dont all already know. also the colours on the map are far to close to each other to see the difference. not as if there arent enough colours in the world to choose from.also depends on which provider you use. my niece changed from bt to virgin and gained 0.5m over night! if you're going to do it, do it properly so it can be handed over. all they will do with this is point out the errors in the data collected.
Not granular enough to be of any real value by Mjwisbey@btinternet.com UserFlagImage - Monday, 21 February 2011 @ 23:50 The service in Galleywood depends upon who has stayed with BT and who has locked themselves in with another supplier. I gritted my teeth with BT's slow speed because the service was very reliable despite the low speed. Now I have been able to upgrade to the new BT Infinity service, which has taken fibre optic to the boxes in the road, and copper from there to the houses. This service gives me on average 16Mbits download and about 7 upload and is reliable. I switched to it at no extra cost. Others in my road have been unable or unwilling to switch.
Map now works by Wind-blown UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 9:27 Overnight the map now works. Are the coloured patches generated based on average results from a number of respondents? I guess that would explain why my >20mb results do not show up. By the way, the only speed test server I would trust for the southern three-quarters of the country is NAMESCO / London on speedtest.net. This will test reliably up to 100Mb download and upload. The BBC tester and most others are very misleading indeed and really should not have been recommended for this survey. I would go so far as to say the survey results are completely invalid. Thanks for highlighting the plight of rural areas though.
area resolution by SMM UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 9:38 I agree with statman - using only the 1st part of the postcode is misleading. I have a Peterborough postcode, but the best speed I have achieved is 0.20 Mbps, this often drops out completely, and this costs me as much as someone achieving 5Mbps and better! I have no hope of iplayer, even on-line radio is a challenge. I have looked at mobile broadband as an option, but for my area, there is no 3G coverage either. Am I miles from civilisation? No, just over an hour and a half from central London!
Independant Result by John hartley UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 10:30 Immediately after using the BBC speed checker I repeated the test with BroadbandSpeedChecker.co.uk, the results are very similar to the BBC test, Download Speed .428 mps Upload Speed .219 mps. I know the kids are off school but this is the normal sort of speed in Bintree, we are about 2 miles from the Foulsham exchange. BT, this is ridiculously outdated.
Heat map by Mattprecey UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 11:02 Hi folks, Absolutely take on board the comments about the limitations of using only part of the post code. As we have said in the disclaimer, this is a very simple exercise designed to give a broad indication of people's experiences and doesn't purport to be scientifically accurate or definitive. A rough guide, nothing more, with the colours reflecting the mean results returned in a given post code district. Our reporting across the week on Look East will go into the details relating to the nuances and vicissitudes of broadband provision. Regarding the speed meter, we tested it using a large number of people across a wide geographic area, who registered a wide range of speeds from very fast to very slow. Having said that, we're totally open to suggestions as to how we can improve/refine the way we use this software and design future such exercises on Look East, to make them more representative. Either way, thanks to all for taking part but remember it's only designed to give us a very rough outline of your expreriences. Best regards Matt
Map Problems and Area Resolution by Sjg UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 11:08 Hey everyone, we have fixed the map display which broke due to a high volume of traffic in a very short space of time. To answer the people who have commented on the area resolution: we made a conscious decision to only use the first part of the postcode to map the responses so that users privacy was not compromised. There is nothing stopping users entering their full postcode into the system and using that data we can build better maps in the future. Steve (Support@SurveyMapper)
Broadband? What's Broadband? by Walker2collies@madasafish.com UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 11:41 We can't get Broadband here. We are an official "Not Spot". The best I can get is Dial Up 38.4Kbps. Just 1Mbps would be fantastic. It's taken me over an hour to get on this site to register my grumble. Some sites I can't access at all. Genes Reunited have told me that without Broadband it is not be possible now - it used to be! Many important emails have to be deleted before they get to the PC as they take hour upon hour to download and of course, we can't use the phone then either.
Disappointed by Vtraveller UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 18:25 Granularity of the survey is very poor. I live in a new build area over 8km from the exchange. This means that the entire area (although cable capable since 2000) is left as a broadband island (<1Mb). This just isn't represented by the map.
Speed by Quitemystic UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 18:55 0.09 my paint drys quicker than this,thay are taking our money what for i think they should start spending it in rural areas never mind the fat cats
Why only ask for maximum speed? by PLG UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 18:59 My broadband has, for the last 2 years, been not only abysmal but also very erratic. At best I have hit 3376kbps but at worst it drops to 336kbps. BT advise me that the most my line can support is about 1800kbps so you can understand my frustration. To report the best speed achieved will distort the survey and give the impression that my postcode area has a good speed.
Speed and choice by Phyllgerry UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 18:59 First of all, to get a better idea of speed is to pick one of the links provided by the BBC (eg ZNET) to test your speed and test it more than once then make a note and calculate an average. I took five readings and got an average from that. Second point is that most people have no choice in provider. I would love Virgin Media as my sister has got as her speeds make my provider look like a snail breeder. I am stuck with a BT landline for my broadband. Although I am not with BT for my broadband provider. All broadband providers that use the BT landline to provide a service will be the same as they are using the same copper wires and same routine equipment at the exchange. All they are doing is buying bandwidth and equipment from BT to re-sell. So bare this in mind. Lastly BT's Infinity is not even coming to my town (Great Yarmouth). It seems to be rolled out where they can make the most profit. So most likely will not see fibre optic here for a long while. So much for the social side to a large company.
I'm living in the dark ages. by Strollingchimp UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 19:01 BT have been at the top of my most hated companies for a number of years. Over the past 3 years I have been getting speeds of up to 0.5 Mbps, but it generally averages around 0.1Mbps, which, as some of you may know only slightly higher than dial-up. BT are a disgrace, there is no way they can justify paying £35 per month for 0.1Mbps. It is ridiculous, I now actually don't see any point in having broadband anymore. In my opinion, what everybody needs to do is completely boycott BT and begin funding private companies to have fiber optic lines installed. At the end of the day BT's ADSL network, was a complete disgrace. I don't see why OFCOM should allow them to take charge of the fiber roll-out because we will be in the same situation in 10 years time.
Network by Mike57a UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 19:10 Many forget that most broadband suppliers are using the BT network which in places is quite old. Aluminium cables are still out there which doesn't help. Cable sizes at the exchange end are sometimes smaller so as help with duct space. Also to get cables to rural areas they have to cross private land at recurring costs to BT. It's easy to blame BT but there is a huge job to be done to update the cable/fibre network.
Lies, Damned Lies, and BT speedtesting by Al Gillard UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 19:16 The speed testing is not necessarily indicative of the speed actually achieved. Downloading on my broadband in Alresford, tested by BT and declared to be up to 4.5mbps, in fact registers a non-so-super-sonic 0.430mbps. Or in fact, one sixteenth of the speed for which BT charge me, or slightly under. DISGRACEFUL. And as soon as there is an alternative I will be taking my business elsewhere.
BT was stopped doing fibre optics to homes in early 1990s - by the last Conservative government. by Tony_gibbs UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 19:35 My download speed on the test was 1.7Mbps, which is fine for me do e-mail and iPlayer. I used to work for BT in 1990 and remember that they proposed putting fibre optic cables into people's homes then and running a Cable tv type of service then. It even ran a demo service in Milton Keynes. However, it was legally prevented from doing so under the Duopoly review under the last Conservative government, see http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/about/history.htm#1990 and http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/24970/1/Telecommunications_in_the_UK_%28LSERO%29.pdf page 9. So we are reaping what we sowed back in the early 1990s.
BT was stopped doing fibre optics to homes in early 1990s - by the last Conservative government. by Tony_gibbs UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 19:36 My download speed on the test was 1.7Mbps, which is fine for me do e-mail and iPlayer. I used to work for BT in 1990 and remember that they proposed putting fibre optic cables into people's homes then and running a Cable tv type of service then. It even ran a demo service in Milton Keynes. However, it was legally prevented from doing so under the Duopoly review under the last Conservative government, see http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/about/history.htm#1990 and http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/24970/1/Telecommunications_in_the_UK_%28LSERO%29.pdf page 9. So we are reaping what we sowed back in the early 1990s.
BT was stopped doing fibre optics to homes in early 1990s - by the last Conservative government. by Tony_gibbs UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 19:39 My download speed on the test was 1.7Mbps, which is fine for me do e-mail and iPlayer. I used to work for BT in 1990 and remember that they proposed putting fibre optic cables into people's homes then and running a Cable tv type of service then. It even ran a demo service in Milton Keynes. However, it was legally prevented from doing so under the Duopoly review under the last Conservative government, see http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/about/history.htm#1990 and http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/24970/1/Telecommunications_in_the_UK_%28LSERO%29.pdf page 9. So we are reaping what we sowed back in the early 1990s.
One Gig Per Second by CITIZEN_42 UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 19:46 Where I am there is only one supplier BT - so I guess that's a monopoly then - I get 1.9mbps. We can't expect the 1gigps that the South Koreans get after all we live in a third world country or soon will. I wonder why there isn't the investment in this and other areas in the UK - perhaps we should all pay more taxes so we can give more to the Bankers. VoteCon you know it makes cents.
County Broadband by Mush UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 20:02 I have county Broadband connection i'm paying a lot of money for 8Mb tonight i just done a test and am only getting 2.68Mb and that took five tests and this is the highest speed, I will becontacting them to tomorrow regarding my lack of speed. I can get 2.2Mb through my slow Copper phone line,. Today not a happy customer with county BroadBand One day when i get fibre optics i can say Bye bye to county Broadband
Speed reduction since early December by Woolly52 UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 20:46 Very interested to see Ajs's comment about Cambridge. Here in Alconbury our speed dropped from around 0.8-0.9Mps to barely 0.1, occasionally 0.2 at the beginning of December. We have been trying to find out what is going on since then via our phone provider/ISP...we aren't with BT for either. So far no information. The Alconburys are 2 large villages of around 1800 people altogether, 4 miles distant from the exchange. We only went with broadband when BT put special equipment in the exchange to allow the villages to get up to 1.0Mps. Now we can't even download upgrades to our computer's operating system! Downloading TV or movies is out of the question. The villages are too big for the wire-less systems that smaller villages use and cable providers have been approached but aren't interested in providing us with a cable service.
no broadband by Bullnotonline UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 21:12 this system does not highlight the 'no broadband' connection areas
Same old' Same old by Greyeye UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 22:14 If the map would even load to allow me to even see the map, it would help, but it's the same old problem, there is no such thing in the village of Old Newton, since the closure of the exchange in Haughly, our lines have to travel long distances from Stowmarket, and when htey get near us, it then has to contend with aluminium cables, NOT COPPER.
Same old' Same old by Greyeye UserFlagImage - Tuesday, 22 February 2011 @ 22:22 Broadband is non existent in the village of Old Newton, even the phones don’t work as they do in other areas, since BT did away with the exchange in Haughly, our lines have to come all the way up from Stowmarket, they pass up, then turn and come back to us, then the next hurdle is aluminium cables, the net result is........, long distance,..... old ally cables = NO BROADBAND. And no plans in sight to resolve the situation.
i dont get this? by Dammedmarine UserFlagImage - Wednesday, 23 February 2011 @ 0:00 I had problems with speed and after calling my provider and following some simple instructions they told me to remove the two screws from my main phone line socket and plug my router into the test socket. they told me an address to test the speed and i got 2.2Mb then was told to take it out and replace the cover and now the speed is 0.5Mb. how is this speed increased just by removing the front cover?
i dont get this? by Dammedmarine UserFlagImage - Wednesday, 23 February 2011 @ 0:01 I had problems with speed and after calling my provider and following some simple instructions they told me to remove the two screws from my main phone line socket and plug my router into the test socket. they told me an address to test the speed and i got 2.2Mb then was told to take it out and replace the cover and now the speed is 0.5Mb. how is this speed increased just by removing the front cover?
SurveyMapper by Sjg UserFlagImage - Friday, 15 April 2011 @ 19:19 I think SurveyMapper is great!