A new study has found that broadband speeds can be up to 36 times slower in some parts of the country compared to others.
The data also found that the county with the slowest connectivity on average is Longford while the county with the fastest speeds is Dublin.
The analysis of fixed line and wifi broadband was carried out by price comparison website Switcher.
It gathered data from 27,000 speed tests run by consumers between 1 August 2015 and 31 July last.
It found the slowest area for broadband is Legan in Longford, which has an average download speed of under 2 Mbps.
In comparison, Drimnagh in Dublin is the area with the fastest, at 72 Mbps on average.
Our data showed Legan in Longford had speeds 36 times slower than Drimnagh in Dublin - 1.98 compared to 72.15Mbps https://t.co/6iIvsRq0sP pic.twitter.com/a65kGneoAl
— Switcher.ie (@Switcher_ie) November 15, 2016
Perhaps unsurprisingly the county with the fastest broadband speeds was found to be Dublin, with almost 45 Mbps on average.
The next best served counties were found to be Waterford, Kildare, Meath and Westmeath.
The county with the slowest connections on average was Longford at just over 7 Mbps, with Leitrim, Roscommon, Monaghan and Mayo making up the bottom five.
The fastest speed test anywhere in the country clocked in at 989.15Mbps, and was recorded in Ballon in Co Carlow.
More than a third of the tests showed download speeds of under 5 Mbps, with the average connection rate across the country at almost 24 Mbps.
Switcher says the data suggests as few as a quarter of households could be receiving speeds of 30 Mbps or more, the minimum target set out in the National Broadband Plan.
This finding underlines the challenge facing the Government's already delayed plan, which plans to bring high-speed broadband to every home in the country by the early part of the next decade.
Check out our infographic to see how your county ranks in terms of average broadband speed https://t.co/6iIvsRq0sP pic.twitter.com/NCvmp5uopD
— Switcher.ie (@Switcher_ie) November 15, 2016
According to the company, the type of connection you have, where you live, distance from the exchange, where the router is placed within your home, time of day, the device being used and whether you use an ethernet or wifi connection all impact on speeds.
Minister for Communications Denis Naughten said that the national broadband plan will change the rural/ urban broadband divide.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the minister said the rollout will begin in 2018 and the vast majority of households will have fast speed broadband by the end of 2020.
He said: "Under the national broadband plan, we're going to bring up to 1,000 megabits per second to every single home and premises throughout rural Ireland.
But he added that "there are some isolated communities, isolated premises" where it will take a little longer to deliver.
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