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THE title of UK's fastest broadband provider is a hotly-contested one.

If we're talking about widely available broadband from a major provider it's Virgin Media XXL.

XXL promises up to 50Mb speeds and, according to Ofcom's last large-scale research, 93% of users see average speeds over 45Mb and no one gets less than 40Mb.

In contrast, the same research found that the just 72% of customers with the up to 40Mb BT Infinity service get average speeds over 35Mb.

The UK's fastest

Open up the field a little, though, to less widely-available connections, and the UK's fastest broadband is a lot faster.

Virgin Media's 100Mb broadband is available to just a million UK households (see current and upcoming availability here - pdf) while BT's fibre to the premises (FTTP) connections, which will be capable of delivering 300Mb speeds from early 2012, are enabled at six locations so far.

Smaller providers and community projects have also created pockets of fast broadband.

In Hambleton, Leicestershire, for example, local pressure has bought an up to 1Gb line and, in central London, 1Gb broadband from Hyperoptic is arriving one fancy apartment block at a time.

The fastest broadband where you are

In short, superfast broadband is frustratingly dependent on location and, unless you're very lucky, the pool of speeds you have to choose from are unlikely to be headline-grabbing.

But even when you're choosing from a less-than-inspiring selection there are a few pointers worth keeping in mind: you may not be able to get the UK's fastest broadband but you can make the most of what you have got.

Here the three things we think are well worth keeping in mind as you look deeper into broadband speeds.

1. Cable beats fibre beats ADSL

Virgin Media are the UK's only cable provider. Currently they can offer the fastest broadband because not only do they have an extensive network of fibre optic cables the vital 'last mile' from the street to the house comes through a coaxial cable.

BT Infinity also have an extensive physical fibre optic line network but their 'last mile', from those green cabinets to homes, is comes through a copper phone line.

This is also true of providers that re-sell BT Infinity under their own names: Plusnet, Eclipse, TalkTalk and Zen.

Until BT upgrade their network again, this small difference is giving Virgin Media the edge on speeds.

Between fibre/cable connections and those coming down a phone line (ADSL), however, the competition is much less close.

Aluminium and copper cables can't carry as much information as fibre and are far more prone to losing speed over long distances and as a result of interference so they'll always offer the slowest speeds.

2. Fastest broadband on a BT phoneline

If you're not in an area supplied by BT or Virgin Media's underground fibre optic cables, however, the fastest broadband providers will use ADSL2+ technology.

ADSL2+ promises the fastest broadband speeds (up to 24Mb) through the existing copper phone lines.

However, ADSL has high attenuation - that means it gets slower (and rapidly so) the further away you are from the exchange.

It's worth noting some providers with ADSL2+ advertise up to 24Mb while others choose to advertise up to 20Mb.

Even Be and O2, who share exactly the same network, choose to advertise differently. This is telling, we think, - this is just down to how providers choose to advertise the connection.

While ADSL2+ services have been found to consistently provide the fastest broadband in the land, short of fibre services, tests by OFCOM and other sources tend to conflict on who exactly is the fastest broadband provider.

In general, though, tests find that Be and O2 broadband (who share a network) offer the fastest broadband over ADSL2+.

Astoundingly, meanwhile, recent tests have shown that TalkTalk offers the fastest broadband on ADSL.

We say astoundingly because whilst being the fastest broadband provider on ADSL, TalkTalk is close to being the cheapest broadband provider too, also they're not unknown for their questionable customer service record.

Note that TalkTalk now advertise Essentials as an up to 24Mb deal. However, only just under a third of their customers are serviced by ADSL2+ exchanges.

3. Don't rely solely on adverts

As a result of that technology difference relying on advertising for information about speeds is a mistake.

The average speed delivered by an up to 20Mb or 24Mb ADSL connection is 6.6Mb according, again, to that Ofcom report.

On average, Virgin Media customers on their up to 10Mb deal get speeds of 9.5Mb

Between ADSL providers, too, there's considerable variation in average speeds and, often, it has seems to bear no relation to the way speeds are advertised. So:

Provider	Advertised speed	Ofcom average (over 24hrs)
O2/Be	20/24Mb	10.1 to 11.7Mb
BT	20Mb	7.3 to 9.0Mb
TalkTalk	24Mb	7.1 to 8.7Mb
Sky	20Mb	6.6 to 8.0Mb

Although these averages bear out a frequently observed broadband speed difference - that O2 and Be are significantly faster than most - it's still worth noting that they are only averages.

Your personal connection speed will be affected by a number of factors some, like distance from the exchange, that you can't do anything about.

All the major providers should now supply an estimated line speed when you enter your postcode and phone number on their websites: we strongly recommend checking this before signing up for speeds, no matter who the provider is.

It's also worth noting that some factors that affect the actual speeds you experience, like a provider's traffic management policy, are much easier to change.

Speeds aren't everything

Broadband speeds are, undeniably, one of the easiest ways to measure broadband quality for end-users.

Many popular services have a minimum speed requirement: BBC iPlayer streaming, for example, recommends a minimum 500kb speed for its iPlayer service and 3.2Mb for iPlayer in HD.

In addition, higher speeds can mitigate against freezing problems caused by lack of bandwidth as we use more and more internet-enabled devices in our homes.

But, despite all that, broadband speeds aren't everything.

For example, gamers are more affected by jitter and lag than other internet users. But the fastest broadband isn't necessarily the least jittery.

The Be Pro service, for example, only offer up to 24Mb speeds but prioritises gaming traffic so that your games won't get slowed down by other windows or other users accessing the same service.

Throttling and usage cap policies can also be hazardous to the downloaders to whom super fast broadband is most likely to appeal, impeding service or piling extra pounds on to your bill.

See our fair use policy guide for more on this.

Broadband customer service is also a major concern for many, more even than speeds.

You can find an assessment of each provider's customer service in our broadband reviews.

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