UK’s slowest cities for 3G mobile broadband have been named and shamed in a list put out by mobile and broadband comparison website Top10.com

According to the research taken from thousands of opt-in users around the country over the last three months, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire is the worst performing city in the UK.

It on average has 3G mobile broadband speed of just 1.73 megabits per second (Mbps), which is around 45 per cent slower than the average speeds in Britain’s 3G hotspot towns and cities.

The 3G landscape is not much better for smartphone users in the Midlands city of Leicester and the West Yorkshire town of Huddersfield. Both have large populations and both suffer from 3G mobile broadband speeds slower than the national average of 2.62Mbps. The average 3G mobile broadband speed in Leicester is 2.01Mbps and Huddersfield 2.17Mbps.

From a national perspective, half of the ten slowest towns/cities for 3G mobile broadband speeds are in the north of England, with an average download speed of 2.21Mbps recorded in Liverpool and 2.35Mbps in Hull. Whilst Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city with a population in excess of one million and a thriving business community, sits at 10th in the list of slowest major UK towns/cities, with an average download speed of 2.43Mbps.

At the other end of the spectrum, smartphone users in Peterborough are lucky enough to have access to the UK’s fastest 3G mobile broadband speeds, with an average download speed of 3.86Mbps.

“There’s clearly quite a disparity when it comes to 3G connectivity across the UK. Despite the Government and mobile operators tirelessly working to increase the coverage and speed of the 3G service, there is evidently still a long way to go. Across large swathes of the UK, and worryingly in some of the country’s largest towns and cities, such as Birmingham and Liverpool, 3G broadband speeds are simply not up to scratch,” said Alex Buttle, director, mobile and broadband comparison website Top10.com.

London, the UK’s capital is 15th on the list.

Is your city on the list?

The worst offenders:

1. Milton Keynes

2. Leicester

3. Huddersfield

4. Cardiff

5. Liverpool

6. Blackburn

7. Stevenage

8. Hull

9. Stafford

10. Birmingham