A STREET in Dorset has one of the slowest broadband speeds in the country, according to new research.

The research by Uswitch.com found Sopwith Crescent in Merley had an average download speed of just 0.67Mbps, making it the 10th slowest in the United Kingdom.

This was 954 times slower than the country's fastest street – Dale Lane in Appleton, Cheshire, which is reportedly average speeds of 639.67Mbps.

The UK's slowest street was Queens Road, Weybridge, Surrey (0.12Mbps).

Uswitch.com conducted the research based on some 398,973 “real world” speed tests run by broadband users over the last year.

The comparison site fears that the digital divide could be growing deeper as the fastest street was only 830 times quicker than the slowest in its 2019 analysis.

“The digital divide that runs through Britain has grown dramatically in the last year, with the fastest street’s broadband more than 5,000 times quicker than the slowest’s,” said the site's broadband expert Ernest Doku.

“It’s interesting to see that the North claims the fastest street this year, while the slowest street is in the south east, showing that the speed of your connection has nothing to do with where you live.

“It’s great that more of us are enjoying ultra-fast broadband, but we don’t want to see large swathes of the country left behind on shoddy connections that aren’t suitable for modern life.”

However, the findings suggest that the number of broadband users enjoying faster speeds is growing, with more than half (54 per cent) able to receive speeds of more than 30Mbps, up from under a quarter (22 per cent) five years ago.

There is also concern that people are not checking whether they can get faster speeds, with research showing seven out of the ten slowest streets have access to a quicker service.

“With millions of us working from home and watching more streaming TV at the moment, a good broadband connection is more important than ever,” added Mr Doku.

“One of the biggest obstacles stopping people from getting faster downloads speeds is the lack of awareness regarding superfast and ultra-fast broadband.

“For example, some people on the UK’s fastest street, Dale Lane, enjoy speeds above 900Mbps, while others only get 5.5Mbps.

“And of the ten slowest streets, seven could have access to faster broadband, so we urge residents there — and anyone else unhappy with their broadband speeds — to do a quick check online to see what speeds they could be getting.”