In July 2009 Ofcom conducted reseach into the speed of the UK broadband connections.  It found

• On average Broadband speed was 4.1 megabits per second
• 9% had speeds over  6Mbit/s  and around 19% received  less than 2Mbit/s.
• Those in Towns and Cities received significantly faster speeds than those living in rural areas. The average speed delivered to town customers was 4.6Mbit/s, compared to an average of 3.3Mbit/s delivered to rural consumers.
• They noted that during peak evening hours (8-10pm), speeds could be 20% lower than usual.

The full report can be found on the Ofcom website