British Users Choose Homes For Broadband Speed

The importance of broadband in people’s lives has been highlighted after a new survey found that broadband line speeds are an increasingly important factor when choosing a place to live.

So found the survey from broadband comparison website Top 10 Broadband, which used ICM Omnibus to poll over 2,000 UK adults in September. It found that four out of ten Brits (39 percent) would not move to a house with poor broadband service or patchy network connection, and that broadband speed is now a more important factor in choosing where to live than the proximity to a local pub.

In addition six out of ten Brits admit to “broadband envy” of neighbours, after 60 percent of those polled said that they would be annoyed and envious to find out a neighbour was receiving faster speeds than them.

Top 10 Broadband used the survey results to highlight the launch of its new StreetStats technology, which allows users to see their neighbours’ broadband providers and connection speeds for the first time.

It uses speed test data that Top 10 Broadband has collected, and this is presented on an interactive Google map. It has already added 170,000 speed tests to its map and hopes to collect over two million by the end of the year.

Users can zoom into their postcode area and see the broadband providers people are using on their street – as well as the speeds they are achieving. Users are also able to find out who’s the fastest provider through interactive speed maps, graphs and analytics.

“Until now broadband speed tests have only let you check your own speed. This is the first time everyone will be able to see what speeds their neighbours are getting and which broadband providers they are signed up to,” said Alex Buttle, Director at Top10 Broadband.

“As our broadband StreetStats show, despite all the competition between the major UK broadband providers there’s still huge variation in the speeds their customers receive – even on the same street. Our new speed test makes the broadband landscape more transparent than ever.”