Bournemouth residents 'get UK's fastest broadband'

People living in Bournemouth get the fastest broadband speeds in the UK, with connections averaging eight megabits per second (Mbps), according to a survey from Top 10 Broadband.

The website surveyed more than 2,600 postcodes throughout the UK and carried out nearly 200,000 speed tests to compile the data and found that Bournemouth offers significantly higher speeds than many of Britain's biggest cities.

Web users could utilise faster broadband speeds to download media content more quickly, while it could also be used to run VoIP hardware more efficiently.

Alex Buttle from Top 10 Broadband said: "It just goes to show that people in big cities like London and Birmingham aren't necessarily getting the UK's best internet speeds and people definitely need to shop around to make sure they are getting the best experience and value."

London was found to have only the 15th highest speeds, with connections averaging 6.63Mbps, with Edinburgh - the highest placed Scottish city - doing slightly better in 14th place.

Major internet service providers such as Virgin Media and BT are investing in next-generation broadband networks.