There are huge variations in broadband speeds across the country and Co. Longford has the slowest broadband speeds on average at 7.25 megabits per second (Mbps), a new report by Switcher.ie has found.

Swticher.ie, an online price comparison service, has compiled a year’s worth of speed test data for home broadband, which has revealed the slowest and fastest speeds across the country.

Following on from Longford, the next county with the slowest speeds was Co. Leitrim with an average speed of 8.94Mbps.

Roscommon (9.16Mbps), Monaghan (11.37Mbps) and Mayo (11.78Mbps) were the next counties with the slowest speeds.

Meanwhile, the report found that broadband users in Dublin are the best off in terms of average broadband speed, with an average speed of 44.85Mbps.

Dublin was followed by Waterford (27.90Mbps), Kildare (27.36Mbps), Meath (21.47Mbps) and Westmeath (21.41Mbps).

The average speed across all tests taken was 23.75Mbps.

County-by-County Breakdown

When Switcher.ie looked at the data in further detail, it found massive differences in broadband speeds in distinct areas across the country.

For example, it found that Legan in Longford is the area with the slowest average speeds in the country, with an average speed of 1.98Mbps.

This is almost 36 times slower than the faster area, which is Drimnagh in Dublin 12 with an average speed of 72.15Mbps.

Broadband speeds in Legan Co. Longford are also almost 12 times slower than the national average.

5 Slowest and 5 Fastest Broadband Areas

If you’re stuck with slow broadband, Switcher.ie has said that it could have a real impact on your quality of life.

In practical terms, it found that it would take someone living in Legan over three and a half hours to download a two-hour HD movie, while people in Drimnagh in Dublin 12 can do this in just under 6 minutes, which is a stark difference.

Broadband Report ‘Underlines Problems In Rural Ireland’

Responding to the findings of the report, Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice, said that the report underlines once again what he has been saying on this important issue over the past two years.

“It is costing investment and jobs that workers and businesses have to move to bigger towns and cities to get a proper broadband signal.

“It comes as no surprise that Roscommon and Mayo are in the bottom five counties in the country with regard to speeds with other rural areas down near the bottom of the list as well.”

To hear that this problem might be solved in the next five to six years is not good enough, Fitzmaurice said.

The reality of life now is that a proper broadband service is no longer a luxury, it is essential to carry out any kind of business or work.

Businesses are very reluctant to set up in rural areas with slow broadband speeds and who would blame them and when one sees in this report that the speeds in Dublin are up to 30 times faster is it any wonder that there is an divide between the east coast and the rest of the country, he said.

The Independent TD said that rural people just want to be treated the same as those in Dublin and on the east coast and to tell people that they may have a good broadband service by 2023 is just not good enough.

“It has to happen faster and I will be raising this issue this week with Minister Naughten,” he said.