A EAST west divide on the speed of getting broadband installed has been revealed as it emerged thousands of Scots who moved house in the last year spent seven days on average waiting for a connection.

While Glasgow was one of the worst hit in the UK by delays, Edinburgh had the speediest connection times, according to new research.

Over two in three of Scots say that they received no help from their broadband provider during the time they were left without broadband.

An examination of 17 UK cities showed that residents of Glasgow were hit with the third longest typical broadband connection times at 10 days. Bristol topped the list of the average number of days to be connected at 15, followed by Belfast at 13.

But Edinburgh was actually the fastest place in the UK in terms of how long it took to be connected. It took five days on average - half the time Glaswegians have to wait.

The study by the price comparison site Uswitch also found that nearly all of the major broadband providers had their customers waiting at least a week to be connected.

Plusnet took the longest time, at almost ten days, while Virgin Media customers had to wait just under seven.

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The analysis comes a matter of days after digital infrastructure giant Openreach revaled plans plans to bring "ultrafast, ultra-reliable" full fibre broadband to more than 300,000 homes and businesses across rural Scotland in a "vitally important" investment that has been welcomed by government.

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The telecommunications firm will build next generation connectivity for three million premises in some of the UK’s “hardest-to-serve communities“, which means fewer homes and businesses will require taxpayer subsidies to upgrade.

More than 160 exchange areas across Scotland will be upgraded, the firm announced on Friday, including Fort William, Oban, Turriff, Burntisland, North Berwick, Pitlochry, Carstairs and Stranraer.

Island communities like Brodick on Arran, Portree on Skye, Stornoway, Kirkwall and Lerwick are also included, with more than 60,000 households and businesses across the Highlands and Islands set to benefit from the five-year feat, alongside 30,000 in Aberdeenshire; 20,000 in Angus; 30,000 in Dumfries and Galloway; and 25,000 across Ayrshire.

According to the new analysis over two in three of Scots say that they received no help from their broadband provider during the time they were left without broadband though.

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To get connected to broadband in their new home, Scottish people had to call their provider an average of two times to get everything sorted Some 89% of Scots said that it would impact them if they were without broadband, with 57% saying it would make a 'significant impact'.

Catherine Hiley, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: “Moving house is one of life’s most stressful experiences, and a long wait for a broadband connection can only make the process more torturous.

“The amount of time it will take to get your new connection set up depends on your provider and where you live.

“There are a few simple steps you can take to speed up the process. Get the ball rolling and alert your new provider as soon as you know your moving dat “Check whether your current provider can offer you a service in the place you’re moving to. If not, you may need to pay a cancellation fee for any time left on your contract.

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“You might find that you have to sign up to a new contract when keeping the same supplier, so search to see if you could get a better, cheaper deal elsewhere.

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“If you depend on a reliable broadband for work, or other activities, it’s really important to check the speed you are likely to get at any new home.” With millions of employees working from home in the last year, the delay in getting a broadband connection had a major impact on work duties.

One in three UK movers (29%) exhausted their mobile data allowance as they tethered their computer to their phone; more than one in ten (11%) had to take annual leave as they couldn’t do their work without broadband, and a similar proportion (10%) were reprimanded by their employer.

Movers had to call their broadband provider twice on average to set up their connection, but one in ten needed to make five or more calls.

A quarter (26%) felt the process had sped up after speaking to their provider, while a fifth (21%) received a refund for the time they spent without broadband.

Another fifth (20%) were given a dongle by their provider to access mobile broadband during the delay.

The researchers said taht almost half of people (46%) who had to wait for their internet received no additional help from their provider when they complained about the delay. Residents in rural areas were almost twice as likely to not receive extra help, with three fifths of those in countryside locations (62%) missing out compared to almost a third (32%) in urban areas.