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These are the places with the best and worst broadband in the UK

What are your broadband options like where you live?

If you live in places like Hull, Birmingham or Milton Keynes (or at least the right parts of these places), chances are you're pretty happy. But if you're in rural Scotland or Northern Ireland, or in the West Country, your internet coverage might be seriously lacking.

Comprehensive data released by industry watchdog Ofcom breaks down the level of broadband coverage in every area, and reveals massive differences across the UK.

It shows that while some parts have almost blanket full fibre coverage, others have a small but significant number of premises that cannot even get a 2Mb fixed-line connection.

Let's take a look at the numbers to find the best and worst places for broadband in the UK.

The best broadband coverage in the UK

Ofcom's data is split into multiple groups of varying sizes, from local authority right down to postcode level. It shows both the percentage and exact number of premises in each area that can access broadband of certain speeds. The data was collected in May this year.

It's all presented in a series of fairly unwieldy spreadsheets and PDF files, but you can check it all out if you want see how your area fares.

Using the data for each parliamentary constituency - which splits the country in 650 regions - we can see that in 49 areas, 99% of premises have access to at least 30Mb broadband. In 30 areas, 90% of premises can get at least 300Mb broadband.

The 10 constituencies where the highest proportion of premises have access to superfast broadband (30Mb or over) and ultrafast broadband (300Mb or above) are:

Rank Superfast availability (30-300Mb) %
1 Gosport 99.8
2 Luton North 99.8
3 Glasgow North West 99.6
4 Gedling 99.6
5 Bootle 99.5
6 Leicester West 99.5
7 Nottingham North 99.5
8 Birmingham, Hodge Hill 99.5
9 Liverpool, West Derby 99.5
10 Swansea West 99.5
Rank Ultrafast availability (over 300Mb) %
1 Kingston upon Hull North 98.8
2 Kingston upon Hull West & Hessle 97.6
3 Kingston upon Hull East 97.4
4 Birmingham, Yardley 97.0
5 Birmingham, Hodge Hill 96.8
6 Bristol South 95.5
7 Luton North 94.8
8 Birmingham, Perry Barr 94.4
9 Worsley & Eccles South 94.1
10 Leeds North East 93.9

 

The figures for full fibre are inevitably a lot less impressive. In total there are 17 constituencies where two-thirds of premises can get gigabit broadband. Here's the top 10:

Rank Full fibre availability %
1 Kingston upon Hull North 98.8
2 Kingston upon Hull West & Hessle 97.6
3 Kingston upon Hull East 97.4
4 Coventry North West 78.0
5 Milton Keynes South 77.7
6 Wallasey 77.1
7 Birmingham, Yardley 76.1
8 Worsley & Eccles South 73.9
9 Belfast North 73.5
10 Haltemprice & Howden 72.5

 

It's no surprise that Hull comes out on top in these figures, since the city has a unique broadband setup. For historical reasons Hull has no BT presence at all - not even landlines - and there's just one broadband provider in the form of KCOM. The company has invested a large amount of money in the region's infrastructure.

The worst broadband coverage in the UK

It's not all good news. The data also highlights the areas where fixed line broadband coverage is woefully lacking. Never mind full fibre broadband, homes in some parts of the country don't have access to even a basic broadband service.

Nationwide, there are around 7500 postcodes where no premises at all can access faster than 2Mb broadband. Most of these are rural areas, and are found in all four countries of the UK. Some of these areas will be targeted under the Government's plan to fund investment in broadband over the next few years. These are the parts that are not financially viable enough for competition to drive the market on its own.

In addition, the Government's universal service obligation guarantees all properties should be able to get 10Mb broadband. If not, they will pay up to £3400 to upgrade the infrastructure and get it connected.

The constituencies with the highest proportion of properties unable to get 2Mb broadband are:

Rank Unable to get 2Mb %
1 West Tyrone 6.7
2 Fermanagh & South Tyrone 6.6
3 Penrith & The Border 4.0
4 South Down 3.6
5 Brecon & Radnorshire 3.6
6 Orkney & Shetland 3.6
7 Ross, Skye & Lochaber 3.5
8 Montgomeryshire 3.3
9 Argyll & Bute 3.2
10 Mid Ulster 3.1

 

On top this of this, there are many parts of the country that are under-served when it comes to faster broadband. Over a quarter of properties in some regions are unable to access 30Mb internet, while full fibre is essentially in non-existent in others.

Rank Unable to get 30Mb %
1 Orkney & Shetland 29.6
2 Fermanagh & South Tyrone 27.6
3 West Tyrone 23.5
4 Brecon & Radnorshire 22.9
5 Cities of London & Westminster 22.4
6 Mid Ulster 21.8
7 Central Devon 21.7
8 Ross, Skye & Lochaber 21.6
9 Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross 21.6
10 Carmarthen East & Dinefwr 20.5
Rank Full fibre availability %
1 Plymouth, Sutton & Devonport 0.1
2 Great Grimsby 0.2
3 Hazel Grove 0.3
4 Norwich South 0.3
5 Washington & Sunderland West 0.3
6 Rhondda 0.3
7 Blackpool North & Cleveleys 0.4
8 Hartlepool 0.5
9 Stourbridge 0.5
10 West Dunbartonshire 0.5

 

Of course, we do need to point out that some of these areas could possibly have access to high speed internet that's not been counted in these results, due to local initiatives from companies such as B4RN or Call Flow or wireless broadband services via a local mast. Many of these places are also able to get faster internet speeds with comparable prices and services to fixed-line broadband over the mobile network with 4G and 5G home routers from the bigger networks, like EE and Three.

Want to see how you measure up? Give our speed test a whirl to find out how fast your current broadband service is, then use our postcode checker to discover the best broadband deals in your area right now.

 

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