UK broadband fails to make the grade in top 100 worldwide speed ratings

Cities in the UK fall way behind many other locations around the world when it comes to getting a decent speed, according to results published by Akamai.

Bradford was the only place across the entire UK to creep into the top 100 cities for average broadband speeds, scraping in at number 99. Asia is the place to be when it comes to enjoying a more impressive average broadband speed. Taegu, in South Korea, got the number one accolade with a very brisk average speed of 18.36Mb.

Akamai’s State of the Internet Report, which covers the last quarter of 2010, revealed that the average speed of broadband in Bradford is just over 6Mb. Meanwhile, the rest of the country only manages around 4.3Mb on average. This leaves the UK at number 26 in the global broadband rankings.

Alongside the disappointing stats for UK broadband services, the report also highlighted the fact that Constanta in Romania remains the fastest broadband city in Europe, coming in at number 56 in the league table. Considering its vast size, the USA also did poorly in the findings, with only eight American cities making it into the top 100.

Akamai's quarterly report is based on data collected from the Akamai Internet Platform, which delivers up to 30 percent of global Web traffic on a given day.