A HEREFORD street has some of the slowest broadband speeds in the West Midlands, Uswitch has found.

Frank Owen Court, in Hereford, was found to have an average download speed of 0.78Mps according to analysis of 276,083 speed tests collated by comparison and switching service Uswitch.com

The slowest street for broadband in the UK, with an average download speed of 0.24Mbps, is Wistaston Road, Crewe in Cheshire, where it would take more than 48 hours to download a two-hour HD film.

The UK’s fastest street, Haul Fryn in Birchgrove, Swansea, had average download speeds reaching 882Mbps over the past year. People living here would be able to download the same film in just 47 seconds.

The good news is that the number of broadband users enjoying faster speeds is growing. Two fifths of users now get superfast speeds of more than 30Mbps, which is almost double than those six years ago, Uswitch said.

But despite the fact that superfast broadband is available to 96 per cent of the country, and ultrafast to 62 per cent, a recent Uswitch survey found that four in ten are unaware they can access it in their area.

Residents in nine of the ten slowest streets could actually have access to a quicker service, suggesting that consumers who are willing to pay for faster speeds are being deprived of better broadband because they aren’t aware they could change to a faster alternative.

Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, says: “Britain’s broadband keeps getting quicker every year, but parts of the country continue to be left behind.

“Residents of this year’s fastest street, Haul Fryn, could download a film in 47 seconds - where it would take those living in Wistaston Road more than 48 hours to do the same thing.

“At a time when so many of us rely on our broadband for work, streaming films and TV, and gaming, it’s hard to imagine how frustrating such a slow connection must be.

“It’s great to witness the increased uptake of ultrafast broadband, but we don’t want to see large swathes of the country left behind on shoddy connections that aren’t cutting it for modern life.

“Initiatives like the Universal Service Obligation and Project Gigabit are helping improve connections at both ends of the spectrum, but there is a lot more to be done so consumers don’t get left behind.

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