I am one of the 1% who as yet cannot get broadband ! Its known as a "Not Spot".We are 13km from our local exchange which has been upgraded with help from the Welsh Assembly.Fine if you live near the exchange but not if you are more than 7kms away! I have been applying for broadband for over 4 years!

Edward Ebden, Upper Llanover, Wales

I used the BBC test and got 2 meg. I then used 3 other tests and got between 3 and 3.5 meg. I then rechecked with the BBC and this time it gave me 3 .3 meg! An increase of 50% in 10 minutes! The survey should have compared Cities with Rural areas Manchester will not that different to London.

David Burns, Beckenham, England

I too get only 0.5 .

Pathetic as i am being charged for 'up to' 4Mb

Maybe I should just pay them an amount 'up to' what they bill me (say 12%).

N Russell, Hinton St. George, UK

I get 0.5mbps

BT have made profit from a once publicly owned company and hardly reinvested. More has been spent on corporate training days and the mismanagement of resources, than has been spent on updating the infrastructure. Yet more for the fat cats. !!

BT Are pathetic !

Dave, Lincoln,

We are a small ISP that have lots of customers with long lines, and many of these can be improved upon. Some of these lines we have working were written of by the large ISP's.

See http://www.adsl.southwitham.net/13.html

Helen, Grantham, England

South East 3.25Mbps!?!?
Getting none of that here, 1989kbps download speed on speedtest.net

Are they including commercial connections in this as well? That would throw the statistics right out.

Ieuan Jenkins, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

I live in the lovely sticks known as Robin Hood's Bay and I get 8Mb connection with actual 6Mb download rates.. I'm lucky but it could be better!

Come on Brown cut BT some tax breaks to roll out fibre!

Luke Faichney, R, England

The BT attitude is totally unsympathetic to people living in rural areas. I got 0.5 mbps on the BBC speed test; 3.09 in the East...Ha ha!! I would not mind paying for a decent speed...if only.

Pauline, Near Attleborough, England

Why cannot fibre optic cables be laid (almost dropped) alongside railway lines - including disused ones - cheap no digging no disruption
Rural business parks beside railway road junctions
Or would this require one Ministry talking with another and Network Rail cooperating with someone

H Davies, Derby, UK

I live in Scawby, North Lincolnshire and my Broadband is 200k max even though they keep pestering me to take the "free upgrade to 8M". It is not technically possible in this village, they have tried and had to revert me back to low speed to get a stable service. And then the sales guy rings up again

John, Scawby, UK

Personally I get around 6Mbps on the jurassic coast. Also they have to take into account Vista is faster than Xp when it comes to downloading over broadband.

Jazz, Bridport, UK

It's ok putting out stats about braodband connection speeds, I can't even get broadband and stuck with dial up connections (then you can grumble about connection speeds). Its not as if I live in out mongolia (probably be able to get broadband there. Is there anything I can do, BT no help

Gerald Thomas, Narberth, Pembrokeshire

It may cost a lot of money but BT HAS a lot of money, it just won't spend any of it updating Britains ancient rural network.

This greedy company is keeping us in the dark ages whilst other countries are leaving us behind.

Dave, Glasgow,

I live between two villages with broadband, one is 2 km the other is about 6 , but we can not get broadband because of the cable route.
BT Chairman says we can not expect broadband due to its cost nor can they say when it will be available..not even a guess!
The countryside has its disadvantages

Terry, Oxhill,Warwickshire, England

The figures are about as accurate as government statistics.
All we get around here is 1.1Mbps and that's on a good day!

Ron Ibbotson, Broughton,Brigg., UK

I live in a very rural village about eight miles from the nearest town and the maximum speed that anyone in the village can get is 0.3mbps!!! This is appalling, how do we get them to do something about it? I have called BT and a year ago they said it was due to be upgraded but could not give a time!

Jon, Nr Tewkesbury, UK

It's a bit difficult to take the average between London and the rest of the country to heart as the technology vary greatly. London can potentially have up to 24mb with ADSL2+ but most of the UK can't yet. This means that the average is skewed if only one person is given a 24mb service in London.

Jonathan , London, England

East Midlands 3.28Mbps? Rubbish!! For miles around where I live many people achieve no more than 2Mbps and I'm darned lucky if I get 1mbps. Since the figure quoted is presumably an average then it must mean that many people are achieving speeds well over 5-6Mbps. Again....rubbish!

Keith, near Grantham, England