UK comparison site flags worst and best cities for broadband

Britain’s independent comparison service, Broadband Genie, recently published a list of the best and worst cities in the UK for reliable broadband.

The brand-new study canvased 3,200 responders across the country and, based on the data, ranked cities for the strength of the services available within their limits.

Gloucester took the title of the best city in the UK for dependable broadband. Just eight percent of those surveyed in the city had experienced an outage in the city in 2024. Wolverhampton and Worcester came in second and third place, at 14 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.

At the other end of the scale, the capital of Northern Ireland, Belfast, was ranked the worst, with 51 per cent of customers suffering a loss of connection last year.

While internet outages are an annoyance for UK households, interrupting shows streamed and games played, their impact on British businesses is significant. Having an unreliable or slow broadband connection can disrupt workflow, reduce productivity and have a negative impact on a firm’s reputation. As a result, companies can’t compete with rivals or thrive.

The recent survey also looked at the internet service providers (ISPs) responsible for broadband in the cities and rated them. Utility Warehouse topped the list with 93 per cent of respondents commenting that they either had not experienced outages or couldn’t recall having experienced such issues. However, ISP Cuckoo made the bottom of the pile, with 12 percent highlighting connection losses.