Britain’s first city named among worst for broadband

Based in Essex, the city of Colchester occupies a site where Camulodunum, Roman Britain’s first major city and capital, stood. As a result, Colchester often lays claims to being Britain’s first city. However, when it comes to broadband speed, a new report finds it lagging behind other metropolises across the country.

The recently released Connected Nations Report detailed some of the best and worst areas of the UK to access full fibre broadband speeds that are considered “decent”. According to the document, the qualification for achieving decent speeds with full fibre consists of download speeds of 10 megabits per second, and upload speeds of over one megabit per second.

Regarding Colchester, the report confirmed that just 28 per cent of premises in Colchester are presently receiving decent full fibre broadband. This figure sees the city ranked number 291 out of a total of 374 areas across the country. To put this figure into perspective, the UK average for good full fibre broadband services is 52 per cent, which breaks down to 15.4 million properties.

A spokesperson for East England installer County Broadband, commented on the report.

“Homes and businesses will be well aware of the postcode lottery when it comes to decent broadband access, which for many is now the fourth utility.”

Other Essex locations like Maldon and Braintree outperformed Colchester in the study. In Maldon, 71 per cent of properties had suitable full fibre connectivity and 60 per cent in Braintree.