As the availability of future-proof, full-fibre technology improves, and more people upgrade their connections, average home broadband speeds are increasing.

Ofcom’s Home Broadband Performance Report, published today, reveals that the median average speed of a home broadband connection has reached 59.4 Mbit/s. That’s an 18% increase from 50.4 Mbit/s the previous year, and a 60% increase on the average speed recorded in 2018 (37 Mbit/s).

Also, 91% of homes from the study now take a superfast package (advertised download speed of at least 30 Mbit/s), up from 85% 12 months before.

Previous Ofcom research has shown that over seven million broadband households are out of contract and paying more than they need to. Prices tend to go up if customers do nothing when their initial contract period ends. But there are lots of heavily discounted deals on offer when signing up to a new contract.

That means some people could save money and upgrade to a faster package at the same time.

For those on the lowest incomes, special discounted packages known as ‘social tariffs’ are available for around £10-20. These also offer superfast connections, meaning eligible households don’t need to compromise on speeds while making savings of £150 a year.

The study also found that the gap between urban and rural broadband speeds has widened following a sustained period in which it narrowed.

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During the 8-10pm peak-time period, there was a 58% difference between average urban (62.1Mbit/s) and rural (39.4Mbit/s) download speeds, up from 42% in 2021.

While rural speeds increased, the rate of increase was lower than in urban areas where growth in the availability and take-up of faster cable and full-fibre services is higher.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the Scottish Highlands and rural Northumberland would be getting superfast broadband.

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