UK broadband speeds 'falling'

The average speed of broadband in the UK is decreasing, a new report has suggested.

Research from analysts broadband.co.uk found that the average download speed reached a peak in July this year of 3.6Mbps, but has fallen every month since.

The average is now at 3.3Mbps, a nearly ten per cent drop from July's peak value.

According to the company's Edd Dawson, the popularity of downloading large amounts of data in the evening is to blame.

"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," he said.

"We suspect that the increased use of media streaming services such as BBC iPlayer are a significant factor in these results."

The figures were gained during October from tens of thousands of tests of broadband users' connections throughout the UK, which were recorded on the broadband.co.uk site.