BROADBAND speeds in Herefordshire could be the slowest in England, according to new analysis.

The county comes out bottom of a league table for broadband speed based on 37 of the larger local authorities in the country.

Not every English council is in the list, but there is no reason to believe Herefordshire would have better speeds than most, if all, of the missing ones.

Many of the areas not included are big metropolitan ones like London which would be expected to have good broadband services.

The new analysis is by a comparison website called broadbandchoices.co.uk and is based on data supplied by 37 county or unitary councils.

Herefordshire comes out the worst performing with an average download speed of 24 mgbs (megabites per second), marginally behind Cornwall.

That's way behind the English average of 43.6 mgbs, and far less than the best performing county, Hertfordshire, with 58.1 mgbs.

These are average speeds and residents or businesses in different parts of an area could be getting much faster speeds - or much slower!

To give an idea of the impact, it would take 57 mins to download a HD film at 24 mgbs compared to 14 minutes at 100 mgbs.

Using their speed tester system, broadbandchoices says Herefordshire can get optimum speeds of 67 mgbs.

Herefordshire Council, with the help of government grants for rural areas, is running its Fastershire project to bring superfast broadband to the area, but this new analysis suggests it has a long way to go to even catch up with the current English average.

According to government regulator Ofcom, just 12 out of 391 local councils have reached the target of 95% superfast broadband coverage.

Other than business use, slow download speeds are becoming a worry for parents because children rely on the internet heavily for homework.

In a survey by broadbandchoices, 45% of parents said poor internet connections had affected their child’s ability to complete homework, and 14% said it was a regular occurrence.there is a long way to go before all residents, places and businesses can get top-tier broadband

A spokesman for broadbandchoices said: "There is a long way to go before all residents, places and businesses in herefordshire can get top-tier broadband."

To check the speed of your internet connection, visit https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/tools/speed-test