TWO streets in Blackburn and another in Burnley have been ranked as the worst for slowest broadband speeds in the North West.

According to statistics of a record-breaking 398,973 consumer speed tests created by comparison and switching service Uswitch.com, Stone Hill Drive in Blackburn was the second worst in the region with a download speed of 1.37Mbps behind Birchfields in Manchester (0.80Mps).

Meanwhile, also taking fifth-spot in the region is Saccary Lane in Mellor with their speed of 1.98Mbs then in ninth-spot was Brunshaw Avenue in Burnley where their speed was 3.04Mps.

The slowest and fastest UK streets have been revealed by more than 398,973 ‘real world’ speed tests run by broadband users over the last year.

The number of speed tests is up 225 per cent on last year’s tally of 122,845, with the dramatic rise suggesting that consumers have been paying closer attention to the performance of their home broadband during lockdown.

The good news is that the number of broadband users enjoying faster speeds is growing. More than half of users (54%) now get speeds of more than 30Mbps, up from under a quarter (22%) five years ago. But despite the fact that superfast broadband (downloads speeds of 30Mbps or more) is available to 95%[8] of the country, a recent Uswitch survey found that only six in ten (60%) believe they can access it in their local area.

Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: “The digital divide that runs through Britain has grown dramatically in the last year, with the fastest street’s broadband more than 5,000 times quicker than the slowest’s.

“It’s interesting to see that the North claims the fastest street this year, while the slowest street is in the South East, showing that the speed of your connection has nothing to do with where you live.

“It’s great that more of us are enjoying ultrafast broadband, but we don’t want to see large swathes of the country left behind on shoddy connections that aren’t suitable for modern life.

“With millions of us working from home and watching more streaming TV at the moment, a good broadband connection is more important than ever.

“One of the biggest obstacles stopping people from getting faster downloads speeds is the lack of awareness regarding superfast and ultrafast broadband.

“For example, some people on the UK’s fastest street, Dale Lane, enjoy speeds above 900Mbps, while others only get 5.5Mbps.

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