There is no doubt that having a stable and fast connection to the internet is important. For many, it is now essential. If you work from home, you cannot afford to not be able to attend an online meeting because you do not have enough bandwidth.
Southport has a population of 91,703 people, around 50% of them are of working age and have a job. According to the ONS, around 38% of UK residents are working from home permanently or for some of the week. If Southport follows those averages that means that 17,423 residents rely on their internet connection to earn their money.
On top of that, virtually all of Southport´s 22,523 registered businesses also need the internet to carry out all or some of the work that they do. Many of the 5 million visitors who visit Southport also rely on the connection when they stay in the town´s accommodation. Few of them would leave a good review about the town or revisit it if they can´t stream shows, work, post on social media and stay connected with friends and relatives.
All of this means that how well-served Southport is when it comes to broadband connections is an important question. The short answer is that compared to the rest of the UK the town is behind when you look at the average median speed. But not by much and things are changing rapidly, so it won´t be too long before the entire town has access to an ultrafast connection. Plus, certain areas of the city are already ahead of the curve, with the PR8, L20, PR9, L23, and L21 postcodes receiving a faster-than-average connection.
But that answer does not tell the whole story. For that, we need to dig a little deeper into the statistics.
What is the fastest connection available in the UK?
Before we make a side-by-side comparison between Southport and the rest of the UK, let’s look at what is possible. As you would expect the fastest broadband in the UK is to be found in London. It is provided by an independent provider called Community Fibre and is only available in certain areas. Those who are lucky enough to be able to connect to it experience download speeds of 3Gbps (3000Mbps). At £99 per month, this service is not cheap. But the demand has been so high that in September 2022 they launched a 5Gbps (5000Mbps) option.
What is the fastest widely available broadband connection in the UK?
The cost of installing the necessary infrastructure to achieve these speeds is high. So, there needs to be a lot of potential customers to make it a viable option. Eventually, places like Southport will have access to that sort of connection. But how soon is hard to tell.
Currently, Gigabit broadband is the fastest widely available speed in the UK. It is available from Virgin Media, TalkTalk, BT, Sky, EE, and Vodafone using either the OpenReach network or dedicated cables laid by the internet service provider. Some community fibre providers also offer the service, for example, Hyperoptic, Gigaclear, CityFibre or Community Fibre.
Over 70% of homes across the UK can now access gigafast broadband speeds. Only 61.39% of homes in Sefton currently have access to this service.
But the gap is expected to close quite quickly. Largely because the infrastructure needed to provide superfast gigabit broadband connections is being built at an amazing rate. By 2030, 99% of UK homes are expected to be able to access this level of service. That includes Southport where investment is already happening with the LCR Digital Infrastructure Project.
How well do Southport´s providers look after their customers?
If you are looking at fibre broadband in your area, it is not enough to simply opt for the contract that offers you the fastest speed. The truth is that some firms’ claims do not match reality. Even then, consumers need to do a bit more research.
They need to check the customer experience ratings. Unfortunately, Southport broadband users do not have a good experience overall. Only two providers have scored over 9 out of 10, the rest are hovering around 5 or 6 out of 10 for this metric. Should there be problems on the network people need to know that their provider will be there to sort the issue out fast.
The future of broadband is faster, and Southport has secured funding that will enable the town to catch up and stay ahead of the curve. Now, the only question is will the town´s providers step up and start providing a better customer experience?
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