This is consistent with my experience in the UK in 2011.  The cable internet was terrible, very slow, extremely expensive, and I was living in a &quot;rich&quot; town.<p>There were several occasions where I resorted to using cell data service in its place.  But that was super, super expensive (compared to the USA.)<p>Basically, I can sum up my experience of the UK as this: &quot;Wow, so this is what a second world country is like. It&#x27;s a shame, everything costs 3 times as much and is lower quality.&quot;  Other countries on the continent didn&#x27;t have it so bad, Germany and the Netherlands, for instance the people were much better off. (Even in the &quot;poor&quot; east german side of Berlin where we lived.)