THERE IS a huge gap between residents with the fastest and slowest broadband speeds in Basingstoke and Deane, new figures have revealed.

Broadband tests reveal that some residents in Popley had an average download speed of just 0.6 megabytes per second (Mbps), whilst some people in Brighton Hill had a superfast speed of 398.7Mbps - more than 600 times faster.

It means families using Zoom, Skype or Facebook to speak to relatives and friends could be faced with annoying freezes, cut-outs and sound delays.

Meanwhile, those downloading Christmas movie classics could be left waiting up to five days in Jersey Close, Popley, compared to just 80 seconds in Sibelius Close, Brighton Hill.

The average broadband speeds were collected in postcode areas with more than 50 addresses through at least one test in the 12 months up to October this year. In total, nearly 400,000 tests were done.

They revealed, in Basingstoke and Deane the postcodes with the slowest speeds were:

1) RG249PR, Jersey Close in Popley, with an average speed of 0.6Mbps

2) RG237BG, Hunter's Close in Oakley, average 1.1Mbps

3) RG263HP, Jubilee Close in Pamber Heath, average 2.5Mbps

The postcodes with the fastest speeds were:

1) RG224HX, Sibelius Close in Brighton Hill, average 398.7Mbps

2) RG238BU, Winklebury Way, average 224.2Mbps

3) RG249PA, Gilbert Close in Popley, average 211.6Mbps

Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: “The digital divide that runs through Britain has grown dramatically in the last year, with the fastest street’s broadband more than 5,000 times quicker than the slowest’s.”

He added: “It’s great that more of us are enjoying ultrafast broadband, but we don’t want to see large swathes of the country left behind on shoddy connections that aren’t suitable for modern life.”

This week, the Government set out a draft strategy to connect 1 million homes and businesses with 1,000 Mbps broadband in the hardest-to-reach areas of the UK.

It is part of a plan to provide 85% of the country with broadband capable of the speed by 2025.

Minister for Digital Infrastructure, Matt Warman, said: "We will begin these procurements rapidly so broadband providers big and small can move quickly to get the job done and level up communities with this much faster, next generation broadband."