Broadband in Powys

A fifth of the county has no superfast option, and 12.6% sits below 10 Mbps altogether. Both figures trail the UK badly, with national superfast coverage around 97%. Yet full fibre, at 41.1%, is respectable given that starting point, and the best codes are strong. SY19 reaches 95.5%, SY16 76.4% and SY17 about two thirds. CF44, CF48 and HR3 record no fibre at all. Gigabit-capable coverage of 53.3% means just over half the county can order a very fast line. Powys is a county of extremes, then. Where the fibre build has arrived it has arrived properly, and where it has not, connections can be poor by any modern standard. The 30 outward codes in the data cover everything between those two poles.

Broadband belongs on the viewing checklist in Powys. With 12.6% of the county below 10 Mbps, an attractive rural property can come with a connection that rules out home working. The reverse also holds. SY19 and SY16 carry fibre coverage of 95.5% and 76.4%, so the right address gets a first-rate connection. Asking for a line report before making an offer costs nothing.