Edinburgh comes top in internet speed race

RESIDENTS in Edinburgh enjoy much faster internet on their mobile phones and tablets than those in Glasgow, according to an investigation by independent mobile performance research company RootMetrics.

The average mobile internet speeds in Edinburgh provided by the fastest mobile operator, EE, were the fastest ever recorded in any UK city by the firm – clocking average download speeds of 17.1 Mbps (megabit per second) and upload speeds of 11.0 Mbps.

Glasgow’s top speeds lagged behind with download speeds of 12.8 Mbps and upload speeds of 7.1 Mbps.

Mobile operator EE – the telecoms company behind brands Orange and T-Mobile – is now ranked top in both Edinburgh and Glasgow for overall mobile performance – beating Three, which led the race last year.

“EE’s average mobile internet speeds in Edinburgh were significantly faster than those of the other ­major networks,” said the report.

However, Glasgow residents enjoy faster speeds for uploading and downloading data if they subscribe to a smart phone package from O2 or Vodafone, RootMetrics found.

“In both Edinburgh and Glasgow we saw an increase of mobile internet speed, and overall performance from the top operators – but Edinburgh edged Glasgow for overall speed,” said Greg Kleven, managing director of international business for RootMetrics.

EE is currently the only operator to offer 4G internet, which has been rolled out across the country.