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UK broadband speed test

Press start. In about 20 seconds you will see your download, upload and ping, what they mean for your home, and whether a better deal is waiting at your postcode.

Ready when you are.

-- Mbps

download

Download --Mbps Not yet tested
Upload --Mbps Not yet tested
Ping --ms Jitter --
Busy-line grade -- Ping under load

Your network, the test edge used and the data used appear here after the test.

Results stay in your browser. Tested against Cloudflare's UK edge. How it works and privacy.

Your result

Your broadband is fast

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Next step

Are you getting what you pay for?

Type the speed on your contract or advert and Pulse will compare.

Advertised speeds are what at least half of customers get between 8pm and 10pm (Advertising Standards Authority rule since 2018). Your contract's minimum guaranteed speed is the figure that counts.

See what else your postcode can get

Live deals from 30+ UK providers, lowest monthly price first, on BroadbandSwitch.uk. No sign-up, no credit check to look.

Opens BroadbandSwitch.uk. Switching is now a one-step job: your new provider arranges it and your old service stops when the new one starts.

How you compare with the UK

UK median from Ookla fixed-line tests, November 2025, reported by ISPreview. Thresholds are Ofcom's definitions. Your line is one connection on one day; compare the shape, not the decimal.

Your recent tests

Allow optional storage in and Pulse will keep your last 20 results in this browser, so you can see whether evenings really are slower.

All the numbers

What the numbers mean

A speed test is four quick questions about your connection. Here is what each answer tells you, and which one to care about.

Diagram of the four speed test numbers: download arrives at the home, upload leaves it, ping is the round trip time, and the busy-line grade is how much ping rises when the line is full — Download fills the house, upload leaves it, ping is the round trip, and the busy-line grade shows what happens when everyone is online at once. Numbers, sources and embed code

Download: How much arrives each second, in megabits per second (Mbps). It is the number that decides whether 4K streams, game downloads and a houseful of devices all fit at once.
Upload: How much leaves each second. Video calls, cloud backups, sending photos and streaming yourself all lean on it. Many copper lines give you 10 to 20 Mbps up; full fibre often gives 50 to 1,000 Mbps.
Ping: How long a round trip to the test server takes, in milliseconds. Under 20 ms feels instant, under 50 ms is good for gaming and calls, over 100 ms feels laggy. Jitter is how much ping wobbles between samples.
Busy-line grade: How much your ping rises while the line is full. A to F. This is the number behind "the call froze because someone started a download". Standard and Thorough tests measure it.

Where your speed goes between the street and the sofa

Your provider delivers speed to the box on the wall. Everything after that is down to your router, your walls and the device in your hand. If a cable test looks fine but Wi-Fi does not, the broadband is not the problem.

Cutaway of a UK house showing broadband speed dropping from the full speed at the fibre box and router, to a strong signal in the same room, weaker through walls and weakest in the far bedroom or garden — Typical pattern: full speed at the router, most of it in the same room, a lot less two walls away. Numbers, sources and embed code

Where the router lives makes the biggest difference. RouterMap, a free tool from BroadbandSwitch.uk, finds the best spot for yours in about a minute. If you want to know for certain, run Pulse once on Wi-Fi and once on a cable and compare the two.

What speed does a UK home actually need?

Less than the adverts suggest for most, more than you would guess for busy families. These are rules of thumb for a typical evening; the speed calculator on BroadbandSwitch.uk and RightSpeed work it out for your own household.

Speed ladder chart showing what UK broadband speeds are good for: 10 Mbps for one person browsing and HD, 30 Mbps for a couple streaming, 70 Mbps for a family with video calls, 150 Mbps for 4K on several screens and gaming, 300 Mbps for a busy household working from home, and 900 Mbps gigabit for everything at once — Ofcom calls 10 Mbps the minimum for a decent service, 30 Mbps and above superfast, and 300 Mbps and above ultrafast. Numbers, sources and embed code

How to run a fair test

Hands plugging a teal Ethernet cable into the back of a white broadband router on a hallway table, with the Openreach fibre box on the wall below — Step one of a fair test: a cable from the router to a laptop measures the broadband line itself. The small white box low on the wall is the Openreach fibre box (ONT) that the router plugs into on a full fibre line.

Plug in if you can. A laptop on an Ethernet cable measures the broadband. A phone on Wi-Fi measures the Wi-Fi too.
Pause the heavy stuff. Downloads, cloud backups, game updates and 4K streams on other devices all take a slice.
Run it twice. Two results close together mean you can trust the number. Thorough mode takes longer and samples more.
Repeat at a busy time. Between 8pm and 10pm is when UK lines are busiest, and the window advertised speeds are measured in.
Compare with your contract. Your minimum guaranteed speed is on your contract or in your provider's app. That is the figure that matters, not the headline on the advert.

If it is slow, you have rights

Under Ofcom's broadband speeds code of practice, in force since 1 March 2019, providers that have signed up must tell you a minimum guaranteed speed before you sign. If your speed drops below it, they have one month to fix it. If they cannot, you can leave without paying an exit fee, even mid-contract. BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media all signed up.

Keep it simple: three wired tests on three days, screenshots with times, then a calm message to your provider quoting the guaranteed speed. The switching hub on BroadbandSwitch.uk walks through the whole process, and the compensation calculator shows what you are owed for outages, missed engineer visits and delayed starts.

Where the UK stands

147 Mbps median download in real UK fixed-line tests, November 2025 (Ookla data reported by ISPreview, 27 December 2025).
285 Mbps average maximum download speed available to UK homes, July 2025 (Ofcom, Connected Nations 2025, published 19 November 2025).
82% of UK homes can get full fibre and 89% can get gigabit speeds (Ofcom, Connected Nations update, Spring 2026, data as at January 2026).
10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up is the legal minimum you can demand under the broadband universal service obligation.

Deeper dive: eleven sourced infographics on UK broadband you can quote or embed, What is the average UK broadband speed? on BroadbandSwitch.uk, and our own UK broadband speed statistics and benchmarks.

More free tools from BroadbandSwitch.uk

Questions people ask

What does this speed test measure?

Pulse measures download speed, upload speed, ping (latency) and jitter in your browser. In Standard and Thorough modes it also measures how much your ping rises while the line is busy and turns that into a busy-line grade from A to F. It tests against Cloudflare's UK edge network, the same servers speed.cloudflare.com uses.

Is the test free, and do you store my results?

Yes, it is free, with no account and no adverts. Results are worked out and shown in your browser. UKSpeedTest does not receive or store them. If you allow optional storage in the cookie settings, your last 20 results are kept in your own browser so you can compare over time, and you can clear them at any time.

Why is my result lower than the speed I pay for?

Advertised speeds are the speed at least half of customers get at peak time, measured at the router. Wi-Fi distance, walls, an older router, other devices using the line and busy evenings all take a slice. Test on a cable with other devices paused. If you are still below the minimum guaranteed speed on your contract, Ofcom's code gives your provider one month to fix it before you can leave without penalty.

What is a good broadband speed in the UK?

Ofcom treats 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload as the minimum for a decent service, calls 30 Mbps and above superfast and 300 Mbps and above ultrafast. Real-world UK tests had a median download of about 147 Mbps in November 2025 (Ookla data reported by ISPreview). For most homes, 50 to 150 Mbps with a low, steady ping feels fast. Busy households and heavy uploaders benefit from full fibre at 300 Mbps or more.

Does Pulse measure upload speed?

Yes. Since October 2026 Pulse measures upload as well as download. Upload matters for video calls, cloud backups, sending photos and live streaming. Quick mode runs a short upload check; Standard and Thorough modes run longer ones.

What is the busy-line grade?

It shows how much your ping rises while the line is full, a problem known as bufferbloat. A grade of A means your connection stays responsive when someone is downloading; D or F means calls and games will suffer whenever the line is busy, even if your headline speed looks fine. A router with smart queue management, or a full fibre line, usually fixes it.

Why do different speed tests give different numbers?

Each test uses different servers, different numbers of connections and different ways of averaging. Pulse opens several parallel streams, ignores the first quarter of each transfer while it ramps up, and reports a trimmed mean of the steady part. Expect small differences between tools; large, repeated gaps usually point at Wi-Fi or a busy device rather than the broadband line.

Can I use this test on my phone?

Yes. On a phone you are testing your Wi-Fi or mobile signal as much as your broadband, so numbers are usually lower than on a wired PC. On mobile data, Quick mode keeps data use small. The data used by each test is shown in the detailed results.

Who runs UKSpeedTest.co.uk?

UKSpeedTest.co.uk and its Pulse test are a free tool from BroadbandSwitch.uk, the UK broadband comparison site, operated by Upleashed Limited in the Isle of Man. Dr Alex J Martin-Smith writes and maintains the tool and its guides. It earns nothing from the test itself; if you compare deals on BroadbandSwitch.uk and switch, that site may earn a commission from the provider.