Broadband speeds are on the decline

The average speed of broadband is dropping, according to new research from broadband analysts broadband.co.uk

"Average download speeds UK wide peaked at 3.6Mbps in July 2008, since then the average has dropped every month and is now almost 10% lower at 3.3Mbps" Says Edd Dawson from broadband.co.uk.

The results came from thousands of broadband speed tests on the broadband.co.uk, taken by ordinary UK broadband users during October 2008.

"Not surprisingly we are seeing the biggest drops during the evening peak time slots where the average speed has now dropped below 3Mbps for the first time since March 2008. We suspect that the increased use of media streaming services such as BBC iPlayer are a significant factor in these results" added Dawson.

The good news is that users of business broadband will be less affected by the drop, as office hours will generally avoid the evening peak-times.

The figures show that as bandwidth consumption by the average user is increasing on a monthly basis, there is a pressing need for more available bandwidth to cope with the demand.

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