The highest current download speed achieved in Ireland of 6.7MB, according to broadband speed analysis site Speedtest.net, trails that achieved in other European countries such as the UK and the Netherlands, where respective speeds of 26.9MB and 17.2MB are being achieved.
According to the Speedtest.net site last night, the top five performing providers by download speeds in Ireland are Casey Cablevision (6.7MB), HEAnet (6.5MB), Magnet Networks (5.5MB), Adelphi Net1 Ltd (4.4MB) and Smart Telecom (4MB).
This compares with the UK where the top providers are: RapidSwitch (26.9MB), NetDirect (25.1MB), PoundHost (21.6MB), Adapt Services (18.2MB) and UKERNA (18.2MB).
In Europe, the top performing provider in terms of download speed was JSC SET with 29.6MB.
With regard to Ireland’s performance, the top region by download is Monaghan with 4.4MB, followed by Kilkenny with 2.8MB, Waterford with 2.7MB, Longford with 2.5MB and Galway with 2.5MB. Average download speeds in Dublin city are 2.3MB.
“The debate in Ireland is now clearly moving on from simply having a broadband connection to the issue of quality and speed of service,” according to Mark Kellett, chief executive of Magnet.
Speedtest.net is one of the most popular broadband testing websites, used over eight million times each month. US diagnostics company Ookla Net Metrics is the company behind the site.
“Speed analysis sites are becoming invaluable tools in keeping track of an ISP and making sure they are living up to their promises,” Kellett said.
“With Magnet, customers receive a dedicated connection, uncontended, and this is reflected in the speedtest.net results. With Eircom and their re-sellers sharing your connection with up to 23 other business and 47 other residential customers, it’s no wonder they don’t feature in the top five, there was hardly anything left to test!”
By John Kennedy
