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Virgin Media 'fastest downloads' according to study
# 12 December 2011, 12:36 by Chris T
Virgin Media offers faster downloads than any other major ISP in the UK, according to research by Net Index.
The broadband measurement expert, whose web services include Speedtest.net and Pingtest.net, sampled more than three million speed tests conducted between November 2 and December 1 2011.
The average download speed achieved was 17.74 megabits per second (Mbps), well ahead of nearest rival Claranet on 12.4Mbps.
Trailing in third place was BT on 11.36Mbps, then Kingston Communications on 10.48Mbps and Zen Internet on 7.34Mbps.
In all, 20 of the UK’s largest ISPs were in the league table. To qualify, each ISP needed to have had at least 100 speed tests completed on their lines during the sample period.
The average of all speed tests conducted during the study period was 11.38Mbps, ranking the UK’s average broadband speed at 37th in the world.