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As part of Ofcom’s comprehensive study on UK broadband connection speeds, the regulator has published findings on which ISPs are providing the fastest service.
Sampling over 60 million service performance tests across 1600 homes, the regulator was able to graph the speed performances of the UK’s nine largest ISPs.
For packages of “up to 8Mbit/s” connection speeds, the Ofcom results show that Orange, O2, Talk Talk, Sky and Plusnet generally have the best-performing average speeds for these packages.
Individual results for those five can be found below, with an average speed range given for each in Mbit/s.
Sky – 4.0 to 4.7
Talk Talk – 3.8 to 4.6
Orange – 3.8 to 4.5
O2 – 4.1 to 5.1
Plusnet – 3.8 to 4.9
(Ofcom adds that the o2 and Plusnet results are from notably smaller samples and should be treated “with caution”)
The Ofcom cites Tiscali, AOL and BT as the worst performers for the “up to 8Mbit” packages, with Tiscali being outperformed by all listed companies.
BT – 3.8 to 4.2
AOL – 3.3 to 3.9
Tiscali – 3.2 to 3.7
Meanwhile, though it doesn’t have an “up to 8Mbit” package, Virgin Media’s 10Mbit service saw average speeds between 8.1 and 8.7Mbit/s; a striking degree ahead of its rivals.
The survey did, however, show that the vast majority of UK-bound broadband customers were happy with their service.
