Broadband in Boston

The shortfall shows up at both ends of the market. Roughly one postcode in eight lacks a superfast option, since coverage stops at 86.9%, some ten points under the national average. At the bottom, 5.1% of postcodes record downloads below 10 Mbps, the level Ofcom regards as the minimum for a decent service. That is a substantial tail for an area of five outward codes. Gigabit tells a similar story. Availability reaches 64.3% of postcodes, so around a third of the area has no route to top-tier speeds at all. None of this makes Boston unserviceable. The clear majority of its 2,050 postcodes can still order superfast packages, and nearly two-thirds can go gigabit. But address-level checking matters more here than the averages alone suggest.

House hunters should weigh connectivity more heavily in Boston than in better-covered districts. With 5.1% of postcodes below 10 Mbps, a small but real share of addresses will struggle with comfortable video calling or high-definition streaming. The third of postcodes without gigabit access matters less for typical use, though growing households may feel that ceiling later. Confirming speeds at the exact address before exchanging contracts or signing a lease is a sensible precaution here.