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Life

15th Nov 2016

The counties with the fastest and slowest broadband speeds have been named

Do you live there?

Laura Holland

Do you live there?

A recent study has highlighted the areas in Ireland which have the slowest and the fastest broadband speeds.

Speed test data collected by Switcher.ie, the independent price comparison website and switching service, shows that broadband speeds vary hugely across the country, with some areas being left with speeds up to 36 times slower than those in the fastest parts of the country.

The study found that Legan in Longford is the area with the slowest speed, with average broadband speeds of 1.98Mbps, compared to the fastest area, Drimnagh in Dublin 12, which has an average of 72.15Mbps.

In terms of results by county, there’s no major shock that Dublin has the highest average speed, followed by Waterford, Kildare, Meath and Westmeath. The county with the slowest average speed is Longford, with Leitrim, Roscommon, Monaghan and Mayo making up the bottom five.

thumbnail_Infographic - Broadband speeds per county

Interestingly, The National Broadband Plan sets out that, at a minimum, broadband with speeds of 30Mbps should be available to all. The data shows that only 25% of tests had speeds of 30Mbps or more.

Aside from the type of connection people have and where they live, there are a number of other factors that can affect the speeds, for example distance from the exchange, where the router is placed within homes and even the time of day the internet is being used. Whether or not you’re connected directly to the router or using WiFi will also have an impact, as will the device being used.

Here are the areas with the fastest speed:

Screen Shot 2016-11-15 at 07.15.22

Here are the areas with the slowest speeds:

Screen Shot 2016-11-15 at 07.18.37

 

 

Ranking by county:

Screen Shot 2016-11-15 at 07.16.52