London underground users are experiencing faster speeds than more than 4.4 million households across the country according to a new study.
Research carried out by Uswitch has revealed that the average broadband connection from London Underground’s free WiFi service (19.8Mbps) is considerably faster than over four million homes, where speeds touch around 8.8Mbps on average.
The Tube Surfing study by Uswitch analysed WiFi speeds at 99 station platforms on the TfL underground rail network, with around 30 stations providing ‘superfast broadband’ connection, with speeds over 24Mbps.
While the average UK broadband speed is 54.2Mbps, further research carried out over the course of a year based on more than 122,845 ‘real world’ speed tests showed that a fifth of people struggles with speeds less than 10Mbps.
Edgware Road was the quickest for download speeds, as the average hit 49.7Mbps, just edging Embankment’s Northern Line platform (48.3Mbps) in second, followed by Charing Cross, Lambeth North and Paddington (Circle Line).
However, the slowest station was Westminster with speeds less than 1Mbps, with an average download speed of 0.9Mbps. High Street Kensington, Holborn, Gloucester Road and Sloane Square all fell below 2Mbps.
Bakerloo led the way for the best average speed when it comes to tube lines with speeds of 24.2Mbps, followed by the Northern Line (23.6Mbps) and the Central Line (23Mbps).
Comparatively the worst tube line for average speeds was the District Line with speeds of just 5.6Mbps.
Uswitch.com broadband expert Nick Baker said: “It is amazing that the oldest underground network in the world can provide its users with the means to stay connected and download their favourite programmes whilst travelling.
“But the fact that the current Wi-Fi on the tube offers faster connections than 30 per cent of broadband-connected homes in the UK receive, just goes to show the extent of the digital divide across the country.”
Uswitch offer a Tube Surfing landing page that they have included loads of additional information about the campaign, including a bespoke TFL tube map showing the speeds of all the stations in Zone 1. There’s also a tool at the bottom of the page where people can put in a TV show they’d like to download, and can see how long it will take to download at each station. For more info: https://www.uswitch.com/