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Williamson Road on Romney Marsh has UK's slowest broadband

While much of the county enjoys streaming films on Netflix or listening to the latest releases on Spotify, some Romney Marsh residents can only look on in envy.

Williamson Road on the marsh has the UK's slowest broadband speed, where it takes 19 hours to download a two-hour film, 2.5 hours to download a 45-minute TV show, and 49 minutes to download a 20-song album.

In comparison, on Sandy Lane in Cannock, Staffordshire, the street boasting the UK's fastest broadband, a two-hour HD film could be yours in just eight minutes, and downloading a 20-song album takes a speedy 22 seconds.

Williamson Road has the slowest broadband speed in the UK
Williamson Road has the slowest broadband speed in the UK

The data comes from price comparison site Uswitch, which took the figures from the 1,030,865 speed tests carried out by its customers between August 1, 2014 and February 1, 2015.

"You can make a film faster than I can download one. It's not much faster than the old dial-up connection" - Trevor Neve

The findings are confirmed by Williamson Road's exasperated residents.

Trevor Neve, 42, Dungeoness Power station "It's non-existent. It takes forever to download anything. You can make a film faster than I can download one. It's not much faster than the old dial-up connection.

"It's such a shame in this day and age that it's taken so long to get it down here.

"For the kids, if they want to play games, it's impossible. If you want to watch catch up TV you can't do it, even browsing the internet, looking for jobs or anything. I have to go to my parents' house in Hythe.

"It's very disappointing that I'm paying the same as someone in London who's getting mega-fast broadband."

Trevor Neve: "You could make a film faster than I could download one."
Trevor Neve: "You could make a film faster than I could download one."

Retired Barbara Legg, 76, said: "Trouble isn't the word, it's frustrating. It's annoying because it's so slow.

"Downloading a film takes anything up to five or six hours. On the computer once you've logged in it'll take you up to six minutes for Google to come up.

"We've almost given up. It's just too frustrating" - Barbara Legg

"We've almost given up. It's just too frustrating.

"I know it's slow but it's a surprise this is the slowest street in the country. But really it annoys me rather than surprises me."

Retired Ronald Mott, 76, said: "it's very slow, it seems ridiculously slow, as much as five minutes or more before you can get anything."

In order for a street to qualify for inclusion in the top or bottom 30, Uswitch says tests from at least 10 unique IP addresses and at least 10 postcodes were required.

Kent County Council has questioned the findings, and says it has funded a fast broadband connection for Williamson Street.

Barbara Legg: "It annoys me rather than surprises me."
Barbara Legg: "It annoys me rather than surprises me."

A spokesman said: "Williamson Road in Lydd is served by New Romney Cabinet 5 which has been enabled for Superfast broadband by a KCC-funded project using Call Flow Solutions Ltd (a local Kent company, based in East Peckham).

"The data published on KCCs website (and by Call Flow) is correct and shows that all the necessary infrastructure work has been completed.

"The residents of Williamson Road have access to superfast speeds and simply need to follow the ordering process for a Call Flow area by logging on to Call Flow’s website at www.callflowsolutions.com, or via the links on KCC’s website at www.kent.gov.uk.

"Our website notes all those working in Kent, irrespective of size."


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