Average broadband speed in UK homes now in double figures

Regulator Ofcom reports that in November 2012 the average speed of home broadband in the UK hit 12Mbps, up from 9Mbps in May of the same year. As someone with 100Mbps broadband, that still seems very slow to me, but of course there are various factors behind lower speeds -- cost and location mainly, plus many people simply don’t need superfast connections (or think they don’t).

In the report, Ofcom noted that UK broadband speeds have trebled in the past four years, a trend that is set to continue, and likely accelerate, as services offering 30Mbps or above reach more rural areas and become more affordable.

Ofcom says that 13 percent of all broadband connections are now what it classes as "superfast", up from 5 percent the year before. The average speed of those superfast connections is now 44.6Mbps, up from 35.8Mbps in May.

The average upload speeds also increased considerably last year, rising from an 0.3Mbps average in May 2012, to 1.4Mbps in November.

Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards said: "Our research shows that UK consumers are adopting faster broadband packages to cater for their increasing use of bandwidth-heavy services such as video streaming. The increase in the average number of connected devices in UK homes is also driving the need for speed".