WORKING from home is much easier is some parts of Swindon than others, new analysis of broadband quality has revealed.

Covid-19 means most people depend more than ever on a reliable internet connection.

With the population encouraged to continue to shun the office if they can, the House of Commons Library has produced estimates of average download speeds for individual areas within each parliamentary constituency across the UK.

In South Swindon, the fastest area is Lawn and East Wichel, where the average download speed was 129.3 megabits per second in May 2019.

This was more than double the UK average of 60.9 Mbps.

Penhill tops the list in North Swindon with an average download speed of 90.9 Mbps.

At the other end of the scale, Broad Blunsdon, South Marston and Wanborough saw an average speed of 22.0 Mbps. This was below Ofcom’s definition of “superfast” downloads, which it defines as at least 30 Mbps.

In those places, 20 per cent of premises were unable to get decent service, while 53 per cent had access to superfast download speeds.

Royal Wootton Bassett (67.5 Mbps) had the best broadband in North Wiltshire, with 99 per cent of premises capable of receiving superfast download speeds in January, whether or not they were using such a service.

Derry Hill and Hilmarton saw average speeds of just 29.3.

The figures reflect speeds received rather than those available, as some people may have access to faster connections than the ones they pay for.

Earlier this year, the government announced a £5 billion investment to roll out faster broadband to the hardest-to-reach areas across the nation.

But Andrew Ferguson, editor of Think Broadband, said some people could wait until 2025 to see the improvements.

He added: “With the pandemic highlighting how key broadband is for a functioning society, the need to address those worst off broadband-wise has never been clearer.”

Ofcom deems the minimum requirement for 'decent broadband' as 10 Mbps download speeds or 1 Mbps for uploads.

The government recently wrote into law the right to request this level of service, with Ofcom estimating in December that roughly 155,000 premises across the UK could be in line to claim.

An Ofcom spokesman said: “More than nine in 10 UK households can now get superfast broadband, but some areas still struggle for a decent connection.

“Since March, anyone who is unable to get a decent broadband service has the legal right to request one.

“We’re also supporting investment in faster, full-fibre broadband for the UK – including making sure rural areas get better connections.”

A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said the government is committed to bringing faster, gigabit-speed internet to the whole country – one gigabit is equal to 1,000 megabits.

He added: “We are determined to deliver on our gigabit commitment and are removing the barriers to industry accelerating broadband roll-out as well as investing £5 billion so the hardest-to-reach areas aren’t left behind.”