Two Shropshire villages among slowest broadband speeds in West Midlands

The villages of Astley Abbotts, north of Bridgnorth, and Picklescott, between Church Stretton and Shrewsbury, have been named as having the third and fourth slowest internet speeds in the region.

The analysis, which was made up of 398,973 consumer speed tests collated by Uswitch, suggests people in Astley Abbotts received an average download speed of 1.24mbps, placing it third slowest.

Meanwhile, the average download speed for people in Picklescott was recorded at 2.45mbps.

According to Uswitch, neither village had superfast or ultrafast broadband options available.

This compares to the street with the fastest broadband speed in the West Midlands, Stockfield Road in Yardley, Birmingham, which had a recorded download speed of 112.07mbps.

However, the slowest broadband speed in the West Midlands was also recorded in Birmingham, with Holloway Head having an average download speed of just 0.99mbps.

Dale Lane in Warrington, Cheshire, was crowned the UK's fastest street, boasting average speeds of 639.67mbps.

The number of speed tests recorded by Uswitch is up 225 per cent on last year’s tally of 122,845, with the dramatic rise suggesting consumers paid closer attention to the performance of their home broadband during lockdown.

More than half of users, 54 per cent, now get speeds of more than 30mbps, up from under a quarter, 22 per cent, five years ago.

But despite the fact that superfast broadband – download speeds of 30mbps or more – is available to 95 per cent of the country, a recent Uswitch survey found that only 60 per cent believe they can access it in their local area.

For more information, visit uswitch.com/broadband/guides/uk-streets-with-slowest-broadband-speed