Halesworth is a pretty market town in the northeastern corner of Suffolk, boasting the largest Millennium Green in the UK and rivers stuffed full of herons, kingfishers, otters and all sorts of wildlife shizzle. But all is not well.
Rising above the noise of otters scurrying around the rivers can be heard the frustration of rural rage simmering in the front rooms and bedrooms of Mount Pleasant, as it has been voted the worst street in the UK for broadband speeds.
Veh veh slow
When they’re not listening to trains ratting past on the adjacent railway line, residents have to contend with a slovenly broadband speed of just 0.128 megabits a second. And believe us, that is s-l-o-w.
The depressing news for the Halesworth massive comes courtesy of uSwitch, who speed-tested 1.5 million streets in the UK, between March and August this year and compiled a list of 50 streets in the United Kingdom with the crappiest broadband connections.
And here is their top ten worst towns for broadband speeds in the UK:
- Mount Pleasant, Halesworth, Suffolk: 0.128 (Mbps)
- Forestfield, Horsham, West Sussex: 0.134
- Inchkeith Drive, Dunfermline, Fife: 0.169
- Faraday Avenue, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire: 0.182
- Baird Avenue, Kilwinning, Ayrshire: 0.225
- Wheatears Drive, Romsey, Hampshire: 0.242
- Furzy Park, Haverfordwest, Dyfed: 0.254
- Calmore Drive, Totton, Hampshire: 0.267
- Mowbray Grove, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland: 0.274
- Colledge Close, Brinklow, Warwickshire: 0.279
Mulling over the findings, Ernest Doku of uSwitch observed: “Many of the streets on the list aren’t in the far-flung countryside, but rather in more urban areas, nearer to exchanges and where we would expect to see higher download speeds across the board.”
Super spa shooter
Downloads may be as slow as a Mogadon-imbibed snail ascending a slippery pole in Halesworth, but in leafy Leamington Spa in Warwickshire the web is vertiably hurtling their way. with connectivity speeds clocked at a racy 18.865Mbps.
Halesworth facts!
We’ve never heard of the place before but now that it’s enjoying the spotlight, we thought we’d share some facts. Apparently, for three days a year, the place ROCKS!
Halesworth is the site of The Cut theatre and also hosts the “Gig in the Park” which is a showcase of local, national, and international musical talent. The event was started by the Cult’s bassist Jamie Stewart aka Jo Marshall and takes place over three days in August every year. Acts previously featured include Suzi Quattro, The Stranglers, The Beat, The Selecter and the Buzzcocks. The Jungle Tent features up and coming bands and DJs. It also features Stadium Rockers Frontbum [Wiki].
[Via]
There’s someone called Ernest Doku? No way!
I hope he has the good sense to call his daughter Su.
Faraday avenue in Burton is a fairly new street. I’m not sure why the web there should be so slow.
Have BT responded to any of this, yet?
That’s ludicrous. I’ve lived in Forestfield, Horsham for many years… my first broadband contract was for 512kbps (0.5Mbps) and I was getting 100% of that in 2002. When 8Mbps became available in about 2006 I upgraded and I’ve had between 5Mbps and 8Mbps ever since. If anyone in Forestfield is getting less than that, it’s time to find a new ISP and/or buy a decent DSL modem, and/or get your telephone line sorted out, and/or put your router near the master socket where the grotty house extension wiring can’t interfere with it. 0.134Mbps is 134kbps… that’s barely more than you can get on DIALUP, HAHAHAHAH! :o)
Ludicrous. Forestfield, Horsham has been capable of 512kbps since 2002 and 8Mbps since 2006. I think the exchange has been upgraded again recently but I haven’t felt the need to upgrade again as 5Mbps-8Mbps is what I get and that’s plenty for my current needs. And I’m on the very end of one of the line runs in the road, so mine should be the WORST for that section.