Around a quarter of people in Limavady with poor internet

Around a quarter of people living in the local council area are receiving less than the two megabits per second recommended by the BBC as adequate for using their iPlayer.

There are just six council areas, out of hundreds throughout the UK, with a higher percentage of people receiving less than two megabits per second. The organisation responsible for the survey, Ofcom, gives anything less than six megabits per second the lowest score possible.

For instance, TV Licence payers are entitled to access online streaming services such as the BBC iPlayer, whereby users can view television programmes online.

However, the BBC advise that in order to “enjoy high quality, uninterrupted programme playback”, an “internet connection that delivers at least 2Mbps (two Megabits per second) of sustained bandwidth” is required.

This means around a quarter of people living in the Limavady Borough Council area might not be able to access the “high quality, uninterrupted” programming provided online by the BBC for TV Licence Payers. Other services, such as the LoveFilm entertainment provider, also list an internet connection of “2Mbps broadband or greater” to use their service. Downloading software from companies such as Microsoft will also take significantly more time at an internet connection delivering less than two megabits per second.

Despite Limavady’s low place in the Ofcom rankings in terms of the percentage of people receiving less than two megabits per second, the 24.70 per cent is an improvement on the previous year’s figure. In 2011, 29.5 per cent of people were receiving less than two megabits per second.

Further figures on internet speeds in the Limavady area are also available from the communications watchdog, Ofcom. Interestingly, the local council area is in the top ten of all ‘administrative authorities’ in the United Kingdom in terms of ‘superfast’ broadband availability. The take-up of superfast broadband in Limavady is just under ten per cent. Superfast broadband is defined by Ofcom as anything greater than 24 megabits per second – more than twelve times what a quarter of Limavady Borough Council residents receive. In another measure, the average modem sync speed, Limavady is listed with a respectable 13.1 megabits per second – 78th overall in the United Kingdom out of 200 administrative authorities measured by Ofcom Almost two thirds of premises in the Limavady Borough Council area have a broadband internet connection, according to Ofcom’s 2012 figures.