Despite the government making big investments to improve internet and broadband connectivity, if you live in a rural area you might still find your connection frustratingly slow. As well as the government, internet providers like Broadway Broadband are helping to provide a high quality connection to those in more remote locations, and they could be working in your area now.

But why are broadband speeds generally slower if you live in a rural area? We’ll outline some of the reasons below:

Broadband is slower in rural locations, in part due to poor infrastructure. The introduction of fibre optic cable has been slower in rural settings than urban ones. As well as this, rural homes and businesses are usually more difficult and expensive to reach.

Properties in these areas are more likely to be a fair distance from street cabinets and telephone exchanges, from which broadband is provided. Broadband speed becomes slower the further it needs to travel and since this can be several miles in remote areas, broadband speeds can often be only a fraction of what is quoted.

Is there anything you can do to get faster broadband speeds?

You might be able to get together with others in your local community to lobby for faster services. Getting better broadband for rural areas can be tricky sometimes. Other things you may want to try to get faster broadband speed include:

Taking advantage of the rural gigabit broadband voucher scheme- residents and small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) can claim vouchers towards the cost of gigabit-capable connections. A new scheme was launched for these vouchers in April 2021.
If you don’t have access to broadband that delivers download speeds of 10Mbps or more, you could be eligible to request a connection under the Broadband Universal Service Obligation.
Reach out to a private company to install a local network – if you choose this option you will need to be prepared to pay more but it might be worth it, it’s your preference.
Speak to a smaller supplier – in some cases, businesses will receive a special grant to complete a rural broadband roll-out. Enquire about this to see if any smaller companies will be willing to support you.
Use public Wi-Fi – if you are really stuck with your connection, you could visit your local café or library and make use of their free public Wi-Fi. It might not be a long-term solution, but it could be helpful in the meantime. In order to stay safe on these public connections, make sure you only visit HTTPS websites (the ‘s’ stands for secure).

Are there any alternatives to cable and fibre broadband?

There are a few alternatives to cable and fibre broadband, but they both have their downsides.

Mobile broadband

Connecting to broadband through mobile networks can be a reasonable alternative to phone lines, especially with 4G and 5G available. However, the issue for a lot of rural homes is that you need a strong mobile signal, and the download speeds can be slow.

Satellite broadband

All you need for this is a dish that can be directly pointed to a satellite. However, even though prices have decreased in recent years, there are still substantial installation costs, restrictive data allowances, and reports of poor performance.