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Two district councils in Northern Ireland have the slowest average broadband speeds across the UK, it has emerged.
Fermanagh and Cookstown currently hold up the internet league table with average speeds of just 4.3 and 4.4Mb per second.
Figures published by Telecoms regulator Ofcom, which has launched an interactive map showing broadband speeds, show both districts lag a long way behind the rest of the UK with the top speed in Edinburgh, which has an average of 10.1Mb per second, closely followed by Bristol, with 9.9Mb per second.
Although we may have some of the slowest speeds on offer, people living in Newtownabbey and Belfast have shown they love to be online with both districts, along with Luton, having some of the highest numbers subscribed to superfast broadband services.
In general, Northern Ireland has 97% of addresses signed up, thanks to a £30m investment, backed by telecoms company BT and the Government.
The average broadband speed across the UK is 7.5Mb per second, excluding superfast connections, with 68% on that speed.
Overall, the Western Isles had the lowest take-up of fixed-line broadband at 46%, with the City of Brighton and Hove registering the highest at 80%.
Rural areas typically have lower speeds, with the average below 2Mb per second due largely to the way that broadband is supplied. These areas rely on copper telephone lines which have limited delivery speeds.
Superfast broadband is supplied via fibre optic networks, which are yet to be rolled out across the country.
Ofcom has said superfast services made up less than 3% of total broadband connections and were not included in the figures published. But it said it expected the take-up of superfast services to rise over the coming year.
The analysis showed that 14% of non-superfast broadband connections were receiving speeds of less than 2Mb per second.
The map has been released after a total of £530m was put aside by the Government to help achieve a target of 90% of businesses and homes able to take up superfast broadband by 2015.
