April 10, 2025 - News

The benefits of a fast, stable internet connection go far beyond a lack of buffering. In fact, the UK economy relies on it.

Little over a decade ago, the government estimated that faster broadband would contribute £17 billion to our output by 2024. More recent calculations put the economic benefit at £66 billion by 2029 and £73 billion by 2034.

However, lost GDP isn’t the only downside of a slow internet speed. It’s also associated with serious cybersecurity threats.

After analysing the median broadband speed and most popular internet provider in the 100 most populous towns and cities in the UK, we’ve uncovered which areas have the slowest connections before covering the associated risks that can cost your business.

We’ve then delved into what you can do to mitigate those risks.

Broadband Black Spots: The Top 10 Areas With Slowest Connections Causing Cybersecurity Worries

Wrexham users deal with the UK’s worst download times

Plusnet-powered Wrexham, Wales, is the worst location for internet speed in the UK. Its median speed, just 33Mbps (megabits per second) is less than half the speed of the UK (73Mbps). Luton and York are just behind on 36 and 44Mbps respectively.

To put this into perspective, downloading current Netflix hit Adolescence in 4K, for example, would take the average Wrexham user 5 hours and 22 minutes.

However, for a streamer in the fastest area, Horsham, it’s just 30 minutes.

London ranks 45th out of 100 for broadband speeds

Despite generating almost a quarter of the UK’s GDP, the capital came 45th in our analysis of the 100 most populous towns and cities, with a median speed of 78Mbps

Most surprisingly, the top spot is held by Horsham, a West Sussex market town with a population that’s 50 times smaller than London’s. The average speed of 352Mbps is not only 11 times faster than Wrexham (the slowest), but it’s also fast enough to download roughly 2,000 songs in three minutes.

It’s also more than 192Mbps higher than second-placed Hull (160Mbps). Southampton takes bronze on 142Mbps.

85% of the top locations for internet speed prefer Virgin Media

Looking at the top 20, Hull also has a wider significance, as the only location that isn’t connected by a major internet service provider (ISP).

As Hull City Council rejected a takeover by the Post Office’s network, which eventually became BT, KCOM is the area’s sole provider.

Virgin Media accounts for 85% (17) of the top 20, with BT on two and KCOM on one.

As for the ‘slowest’ internet provider, BT accounts for 14 (70%) of the 20 slowest locations.

The UK’s Emerging Tech Cities Perform Poorly

There’s been a big push in recent years for UK tech hubs outside the capital, but our findings show these are falling short on internet speed.

According to Adria Solutions, there are seven emerging UK tech hubs to watch in 2025 but none of these match even a quarter of Horsham’s table-topping internet speed.

The cities, spanning England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, manage a median speed of between 65 and 91Mbps.

7 Ways Slow Internet Can Sabotage a Businesses’ Security and Financial Stability

Slow internet speeds present several problems for businesses:

1. Productivity plummets, causing a week’s worth of lost work every year: a study by OnePoll uncovered that employees lose an average of 44 minutes per week due to poor internet connectivity, resulting in 38 hours of lost productivity annually per worker. That’s the equivalent of a full week’s worth of work lost every year.
2. It’s financially draining: slow internet costs UK businesses an estimated £11 billion annually in lost productivity. In fact, the average company faces an average loss of £13,000 per year due to poor connectivity.
3. One in three customers suffer: about 34% of businesses face customer service issues due to poor internet connectivity. This can lead to lost sales opportunities, especially for e-commerce businesses where slow loading times can cause customers to abandon purchases.
4. It can be a gateway for hackers: slow internet speeds can leave your business wide open to cyberattacks. Without quick and reliable connections, essential updates and patches are delayed or fail entirely, exposing your systems to data breaches, ransomware and financial losses. A single cyberattack costs a UK business £8,460 on average – and for larger firms, this figure rises to £13,400.
5. Communication can be disrupted: businesses relying on video calls or instant messaging face chaos when slow internet disrupts communication. With 65% of employees reporting dropped calls or interruptions during meetings, urgent matters can be delayed, leading to missed opportunities and damaged client relationships.
6. Data can be lost from downtime: with the rise in hybrid working and employees logging on from home, many companies rely on access to cloud storage such as Google Drive to create, amend and share files. But slow internet turns this into a nightmare. Uploading or downloading files becomes painfully slow, backups fail, and critical data is left vulnerable to corruption. A single delay could cost companies time-sensitive projects or even damage their reputation.
7. There are compliance and legal risks: slow internet can hinder compliance with regulatory requirements, particularly in industries where data security and timely reporting are mandatory. For instance, businesses may struggle to meet GDPR deadlines or maintain PCI DSS standards due to unreliable connections. This can result in legal penalties and fines, adding another layer of financial burden to the already significant costs of poor connectivity.

Fast, Reliable Internet Will Be Much More Available in the UK by 2027

Traditionally, telephone calls and broadband were delivered through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which relies on copper wires to transmit data.

More advanced digital alternatives have since emerged, capable of transmitting data much quicker and more reliably across fibre optic networks. As such, the PSTN will be switched off in the UK by 31 January 2027.

By then, every phone line in the UK will instead run on fibre, closing the gap in broadband disparity that we’ve revealed.

Businesses and homes still relying on the PSTN are encouraged to make the switch before that date, however. As an ageing and less reliable technology that’s also expensive to maintain, PSTN users may experience issues in the run-up to 2027.

5 Tips for Strengthening Your Cybersecurity and Internet Usage

Regardless of internet speed and whether you’re a personal or professional internet user, there are steps we can all take to ward off the risks:

1. Use a VPN: a virtual private network, or VPN for short, protects your internet use by encrypting your connection. This prevents you from being tracked online and also avoids broadband throttling, where internet providers deliberately reduce speeds at peak times or for certain activities like streaming to help ensure a fair service for all customers. VPNs can even reduce your internet speed slightly, so using one with a low speed could affect your overall experience.
2. Update and upgrade equipment: regular updates help keep your devices and software performing at their best and most secure. You should also upgrade the actual equipment every few years – routers, for example, which connect your devices to the internet, should be upgraded every three to five years.
3. Switch to fibre: if you’re still using a traditional copper-wired phone line, it’s highly recommended that you switch to a fibre-based service soon. Not only will this provide you with a faster and more reliable internet connection, but the network those traditional lines rely on (the PSTN) will be switched off in the UK in 2027.
4. Set strong passwords: a simple but effective method of improving your cybersecurity. Avoid passwords that are easy to guess, such as those containing your name, and try to use uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Microsoft even recommends passwords of 14 characters or more.
5. Take training on cybersecurity: make yourself aware of the risks and best practice when it comes to online risk, so you or your company can identify potential threats. Take this training routinely, such as annually, to keep the risks at the forefront of your mind.