Leicester is ranked 47th in the UK for higher education, but is top of the league for broadband speeds, averaging 39.87Mbps in student areas
Top-ranking Oxbridge are also high flyers in the broadband stakes – both have average speeds of above 30Mbps
Aberdeen, 36**th** in the country as a place of learning,** is bottom of the broadband league with speeds of just 15.27Mbps**
A gadget-heavy household of four students in Aberdeen would see speeds slashed to just 3.82Mbps when surfing at once, meaning around a 5½ hour wait to download a Blu-Ray film****
Imperial and Swansea are among the top five places to study computer science and IT****, yet neither makes the top 20 for broadband speeds
Leicester University has outclassed Oxbridge in an alternative league table, based on broadband speeds, by price comparison and switching service Uswitch.com.
The “Oxbridge” of the broadband league table are Leicester and Queens in Belfast, with average download speeds of 39.87Mbps and 36.71Mbps respectively.
The data, which shows actual speeds rather than available top speeds – and therefore provides an indication of fibre broadband take up across the UK – revealed that Oxford and Cambridge are also first class when it comes to broadband. Both have super-fast average speeds of above 30Mbps.
Meanwhile, Loughborough – a top five ranked university – also has the UK’s fifth speediest broadband at 34.92Mbps.
However, Aberdeen – 36th in the country as a place of learning – is bottom of the broadband league with speeds of just 15.27Mbps. A gadget-heavy household of four students in Aberdeen would see speeds slashed to just 3.82Mbps when surfing at once, meaning around a 5½ hour wait to download a Blu-Ray film.
Interestingly, Imperial and Swansea are among the top five places to study computer science and IT, yet neither makes the top 20 for broadband speeds.
Top ten university Bath is almost bottom of the alternative broadband league, with average download speeds of just 17.75Mbps.
In London, students aren’t exactly in the fast lane. They face a higher cost of living and worse broadband speeds: Queen Mary, SOAS, Goldsmiths, Imperial and Kings are all in the bottom 15 of the broadband league table.
Table: Average download speeds in 43 of the UK’s top 50 universities:
| University | Average download speed 2015/16 (Mbps) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester | 39.87 | ||
| 2 | Queens, Belfast | 36.71 | ||
| 3 | Nottingham | 36.18 | ||
| 4 | Surrey | 35.84 | ||
| 5 | Loughborough | 34.92 | ||
| 6 | Cambridge | 34.61 | ||
| 7 | Bristol | 34.45 | ||
| 8 | Sussex | 33.57 | ||
| 9 | Oxford | 32.83 | ||
| 10 | UEA | 32.05 | ||
| 11 | Dundee | 31.74 | ||
| 12 | Southampton | 31.55 | ||
| 13 | Keele | 31.09 | ||
| 14 | Kent | 30.54 | ||
| 15 | Portsmouth | 30.3 | ||
| 16 | Cardiff | 29.98 | ||
| 17 | LSE | 29.88 | ||
| 18 | Leeds | 27.71 | ||
| 19 | Durham | 26.62 | ||
| 20 | UCL | 26.37 | ||
| 21 | Aston | 26.17 | ||
| 22 | Derby | 26 | ||
| 23 | Royal Holloway | 25.93 | ||
| 24 | Coventry | 25.79 | ||
| 25 | Reading | 24.51 | ||
| 26 | Swansea | 24.46 | ||
| 27 | Newcastle | 24.29 | ||
| 28 | Warwick | 24.15 | ||
| 29 | Kings | 23.79 | ||
| 30 | Imperial | 22.81 | ||
| 31 | Birmingham | 20.87 | ||
| 32 | SOAS | 20.86 | ||
| 33 | Sheffield | 20.83 | ||
| 34 | Exeter | 20.8 | ||
| 35 | Goldsmiths | 20.79 | ||
| 36 | Edinburgh | 20.62 | ||
| 37 | Heriot Watt | 20.47 | ||
| 38 | Glasgow | 19.84 | ||
| 39 | Queen Mary | 19.64 | ||
| 40 | York | 18.28 | ||
| 41 | Lancaster | 18.1 | ||
| 42 | Bath | 17.75 | ||
| 43 | Aberdeen | 15.27 |
Source: Uswitch.com
Ewan Taylor Gibson, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, says: “It turns out that some of the areas playing host to more esteemed institutions for higher education aren’t quite so high achieving when it comes to broadband speeds.
“Students need fast, reliable broadband for research, streaming lectures and submitting work on time – both at home, and on campus. The good news is that fibre is widely available for student households this autumn and they shouldn’t be put off signing up to fibre connections by the perceived higher cost. Faster fibre broadband can now be had for £10 a month plus line rental.”
Ewan**’s top broadband tips for student households:**
Go for fibre. If there’s one household type that’s a prime candidate for a faster fibre connection, it’s typically gadget-reliant students. Fibre deals now start at £10 per month before line rental – very affordable when split five or six ways.
Find a deal that offers unlimited downloads. In multiple-occupancystudent homes, laptops, smartphones, games consoles and set top boxes connected to the internet simultaneously put huge strain on your download allowance.
Around the start of the autumn term, you’ll see nine-month deals, tying in with the academic year, targeted at students. The chief advantage of these is that you don’t pay for broadband during the long summer holidays. But don’t rule out 12-month deals as these can actually work out cheaper.
Traffic slows your speed down. Consider researching your dissertation or streaming lectures during the day or in the small hours when your housemates and neighbours are less likely to be online slowing the broadband down. Evening is peak time for online traffic.
To run a speed test please visit: https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/speedtest/
Find out how you could save over £1,000 a year with Uswitch here.
Claire Jones
Phone: 020 7148 4663
Email: Claire.Jones@uswitch.com
Twitter: @uswitchPR
Speed test data from Uswitch.com’s free speed testing tool from two university years were taken into account (from 19th September 2015 to 7th July 2016). We took the top 50 universities as ranked by Guardian University Guide 2017, using tests (isolated by postcode) from the university halls of residence, university campus and most popular streets for private student accommodation at each university. Postcodes for the halls of residence and campus were sourced from the universities’ accommodation pages, and postcodes for private student accommodation were sourced from the universities’ private accommodation pages, student forums and message boards, as well as local student letting agent listings. This totalled 181,131 speed tests, across 107,460 unique IP addresses. In order for a university area to qualify for inclusion there had to be at least 500 unique tests.
Aberdeen average broadband speeds are 15.27Mbps, divided by four users = 3.82Mpbs. Uswitch’s broadband download calculator says that to download a BluRay film (file size 10,000MB) would take 5h 35m at 4Mbps
According to Guardian University Guide 2017, searching by the subject area ‘computer science & information systems’, Imperial is ranked 4th and Swansea is ranked 5th
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