In a report, Global Broadband Experience Scorecard 2015 Ovum ranked the top 30 countries in which the UK and US were tied at 8th position.
But that apparently is not that good when you take into account what people are going to need in terms of bandwidth.

In the UK, the Government's Broadband Delivery UK programme is already working predominantly with BT to ensure that 95 per cent of people can access a superfast broadband (24Mbps+) service by 2017/18. It's also expected that a plan to reach the final 5 per cent will surface before the end of 2015, with inferior Satellite likely to be used to fill the very last 1-2 per cent.

A review will soon look at whether or not this USO should be raised to support a minimum speed of 5Mbps, although Ofcom, Ovum and many others suggest that even this isn't going to be fast enough.

A 5Mbps connection is OK so long as the people do not connect too much to it. Michael Philpott, co-Author of the Report, said:

"Demands on broadband service provided to consumers is compounded by the rise in connected devices. Homes in mature markets were found to typically have up to four devices connected to the network, all of which have the potential to support a wide range of applications.

 

Ever since broadband services were launched, there has been discussion on what is the definition of broadband and how much speed do consumers really need? In 2015, the answer is at least 10Mbps if you wish to receive a good-quality broadband experience, and a significant number of households, even in well-developed broadband countries, are well shy of this mark.

 

With a clear link between poor user experience and customer churn, broadband service providers need to continue to invest in broadband infrastructure in order to provide their customers with the best broadband experience and maintain a satisfied customer base."

It is not clear where this leaves the rest of Europe "remains the best performing region" and this leadership is being "driven by high-performing countries such as France, Spain, Sweden and the UK which have high levels of high-speed infrastructure".

Mind you it also states that the UK's "growth momentum is exceedingly low in fixed broadband implementation". Elsewhere the report finds that just giving high bandwidth connections is not enough to ensure satisfied customers. "Customers experiencing issues such as buffering, latency, low picture quality, or long update times are more likely to be dis-satisfied," said Ovum.