A VILLAGE made national headlines for all the wrong reasons this week after a study revealed it had the slowest internet speeds in the country.

Climbers at Everest base camp get faster broadband than residents of Miserden who have to contend with average speeds of just 1.30mbps - the UK average is more than 20mbps.

According to the Cable.co.uk study, the slowest recorded speed in the village was just 0.12mbps, a whopping 1,625 times slower than the highest recorded broadband in Rickmansworth, a town in south west Hertfordshire.

The average internet user using Miserden snail-pace connection would need 11 hours to download the new James Bond film, Spectre, while the resident struggling with 0.12mpbs speeds would need 199 hours – roughly five days.

Miserden Primary School head teacher, Jacqui Sollars, said: “Our school internet service isn’t perfect but we do manage, it’s not causing us a significant problem. It’s is slow for staff trying to use it though.”

County councillor Paul Hodgkinson, who has railed against slow internet speeds in the Cotswolds, said: “It’s not surprising that internet is that slow. I have similar speeds where I live in Perrott’s Brook - it’s painfully slow.

“To download a half-hour TV programme takes about five hours. It’s a bit like starting up an old car. It’s a big issue for people in rural areas.”

But slow internet speeds are not a problem for everyone, it seems.

Kevin Allin, landlord of Miserden pub, The Carpenters Arms, saying their internet was "quite good".

He added: “A few people come in and complain but it’s always been like this, so it’s nothing new.”

Dan Howdle, of Cable.co.uk, said: “Digital black holes like Miserden, unless addressed, will suffer steady economic decline as homes become less desirable and businesses can no longer sustain themselves. These scenic locations will become ghost towns.”

Broadband company Voneus has now pledged to bring high-speed broadband to the village.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, queried the study. He said: “Ofcom data from July 2014 records the average download speed in Miserden at 7.2mbps.

"Since then, Fastershire has brought faster broadband speeds to the majority of the premises served by the Miserden exchange."