Anyway, it seems the biggest broadband speeds in Britain are to be found in our ever-humble city. Yes, not only is London the all-conquering wi-fi capital of the world, but a survey for BBC News has revealed our broadband speeds are on average up to twice as fast as those in Wales and Northern Ireland. Yeah! Stick that in your router and smoke it, Swansea! Up (load) yours, Belfast!

The report comes courtesy of Think Broadband - and yes, before you all complain about "news" stories being spun from press releases by agenda-led companies, they claim to offer "the UK's largest independent broadband news and information site", so let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt, eh? Anyhow, based on tests over the past two months, they found that London's average speed is 4.5Mbps, while Northern Ireland sees only 2.3. The survey contradicts Ofcom's boast last month that the "digital divide" had been closed, after research found that rural homes were quicker to take up broadband than cities.

Want to find out your own broadband speed? The Beeb has a handy little test. Meanwhile, for those not inclined to pay some hard-nosed ISP a monthly fee for the usual substandard service, our wifi map continues to be the web's best source of scoring a free connection for your laptop.

Photo courtesy of minxlj under the Creative Commons Attribution license