"November has been a month of contrasts, on the one hand Virgin are extending their lead in the download speed stakes and on the other, Orange put in the worst set of speed test results we've ever recorded for a broadband provider." Says Edd Dawson from broadband.co.uk.
The results were calculated from thousands of broadband speed tests taken on the broadband.co.uk site during November 2008 by ordinary broadband users UK wide.
"Orange are clearly seeing network congestion at peak times, as at off peak times they compare favourably with other suppliers, it is at the peak evening times that their speeds collapse to an average of only 0.675Mbps," adds Dawson.
Despite the progress made by some suppliers such as Virgin in increasing broadband speeds, the majority of providers have seen their average speeds drop, especially at peak times, with the combined results from all suppliers showing the fourth consecutive monthly drop in average download speeds.