Half unhappy with broadband speed

Fourty-eight per cent of Brits are unhappy with the broadband speeds they receive, a survey has found.

The poll comes days before the government is due to release the final version of its Digital Britain report, which is expected to call for a minimum speed of 2Mbps to be delivered to all UK homes by 2012.

Digital Britain: key points

uSwitch.com's survey found that the average broadband speed in the UK is 4.2Mbps, though speeds varied wildly for reasons such as whether an individual lives in an urban or rural area.

Jason Glynn, communications expert at uSwitch.com said: "Consumers are still stuck in the broadband slow lane through no fault of their own."

uSwitch praised schemes such as BT's recent announcement that it would upgrade the connections of many customers to 20Mbps at no extra charge.

BT to boost broadband speeds

"The government and providers need to step up a gear and set out a bold new blueprint for Britain’s future. Virgin Media and BT have already made strides in this direction - the question is whether other providers will be following suit and whether all customers will be able to benefit equally, regardless of where they live," Glynn said.