The UK has slower wireless broadband networks than Uzbekistan and Mongolia, according to Wireless Intelligence, an analytical arm of the GSM Association.

While regulator Ofcom and network carriers ponder how to move Britain onto 4G LTE services, with arrival not expected until 2014 at the earliest, smartphone surfers in Uzbekistan, Poland and other countries are already using commercial rollouts of the technology.

The UK, by comparison, is two generations behind – relying on HSPA 3G technology. Three says customers using these services can get access at up to 5.6Mbits/sec, but average download speeds are 1.5Mbits/sec.

Meanwhile, trials of LTE by O2 have demonstrated download speeds of between 65Mbits/sec and 150Mbits/sec.

Stepping stone

In between these two services is a stepping stone technology known as HSPA+ that offers significant throughput improvements on its predecessor, with rates starting from 14.4Mbits/sec.

Although Britons might expect to be lagging behind Japan and Singapore, who are already using commercial HSPA+ services, it might come as a surprise to find that networks in Armenia, Mongolia, Indonesia and the Faroe Islands have also stolen a march on the UK.

HSPA+ services are expected to arrive in the UK to alleviate network congestion, but no carrier has so far announced a commercial launch.

Read more: UK has worse wireless broadband than Mongolia | Broadband | News | PC Pro http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/broadband/3 ... z1627uBDrc

It's almost as bad as dial-up sometimes

Well we are now a truly second world nation, pretending to be a first world nation.

+1 [/smile] ...

at least were moving up then

HSPA may well be two generations behind, but that's not even the worst aspect of it - it's the shocking coverage that concerns me.

The reason the UK is so far behind as well is that the bidding process for the airspace fro 4G LTE was delayed due to legal action.

+1
My phone is fine with HSPA, but slow as arse without it.

+1

I get mediocre signal at home, absolutely nothing when I have to see my physio 5-10 miles away and only seen good signal outside where I work a few times on Vodafail

O2 were a lot better, but still not great

On the other hand, the UK has better infrastructure and higher population density, so wireless broadband hasn't been such a high priority, until now.

Only really in the metropolitan areas. The countryside has suffered as a result of the urban bias.

You'll find the same bias in Korea and other countries were >9000TB internet is normal in the cities. The only reason you don't see it in Hong Kong* is because they have no urban areas


*yes I know it's not a country, but you get my point.

Chuffing hell, I'm moving to Korea.

It's over 9,000!?