Why is the internet so slow in Germany?

It doesn’t usually take long before new arrivals in Germany acquire a story about slow and unstable internet.

You might, for example, on a trip into the countryside, try to look something up quickly and instead spend twenty minutes watching the small circle go round and round.

Or perhaps you’re in a video conference for work when the internet suddenly and inexplicably dies.

So what’s the deal with Germany’s atrocious internet infrastructure, and will we ever see the superfast broadband that various governments have promised actually come to fruition.

Is the internet slow and patchy in Germany compared with other countries?

Internet speed, or data transfer speed, is measured in megabits per second (Mbps). This indicates how quickly information moves from the internet to the user’s device.

With an average download speed of 98.33 Mbps, Germany ranks 57th worldwide for fixed broadband internet speed as of August of this year, according to the Speedtest Global Index.

By contrast, Singapore, a top-ranking country, boasts a median fixed broadband speed of 394.30 Mbps.

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The difference means that while Germany’s average user can stream movies, video calls, and download files at decent speeds, users in Singapore experience substantially faster loading times and greater capacity to support multiple applications simultaneously.

The slower speeds in Germany are in part due to the fact that one connection is often shared between several households.

The quality of internet service in Germany does vary significantly from region to region. This was confirmed recently by a survey conducted by the German Economic Institute (IW) involving more than 1,000 companies.

Nationwide, 64.5 percent of companies reported that inadequate connections hampered their business processes, with 31 percent experiencing significant restrictions. The northern federal states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and Bremen reported the fewest complaints, with only 23 percent of companies feeling significantly restricted.

This figure corresponds with a greater fibre optic network in these regions – there is around 90 percent coverage in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and nearly 80 percent in Bremen.

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Conversely, states like Saxony and Thuringia, where only about half of households and companies have fibre optic access, see around 40 percent of companies reporting poor internet connectivity.

Who’s to blame?

Germany’s slow internet speeds stem primarily from a lack of investment in broadband infrastructure over decades.

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Germany favoured copper networks in the 1980s to 90s, delaying the transition to fibre optics in comparison with some other countries.

Then, in the early 2000s, Deutsche Telekom doubled down on DSL because it allowed the transmission of more data through pre-existing copper telephone wires.

The transition to fibre optic cables in Germany didn’t really get underway until 2016 when the government launched a major push to accelerate the roll out.

Today, most of Germany’s network infrastructure is based on fibre optics – but often only up to the “last mile”. Meaning that in many cases, household internet speeds are still hindered by copper cables that connect them to a fibre optic cable down the street.

Actually improving connections for individual buildings and houses, especially in rural areas, is proving to be a long, drawn-out process.

Another reason for slow internet speeds in Germany seems to be a degree of complacency among the general population regarding broadband upgrades, according to the 2024 survey by Deloitte.

The survey found that fibre optic cables are widely associated with higher costs and that most people – 79 percent in Germany – are satisfied with their existing broadband providers, despite frequent signal failures. Around a fifth of internet users report signal failures each month.

Artificial Bottlenecks

There is evidence that at least some slow connections may be the result of unfair business practices on the part of major providers like Deutsche Telekom.

In May 2025, an alliance including German digital rights, civil liberties and consumer organisations filed an official complaint against Deutsche Telekom with Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).

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The complaint alleges that Deutsche Telekom creates artificial bottlenecks within its network, favouring more expensive services and customers that pay for “fast lanes” while slowing down others, especially when SIM cards are used in routers rather than smartphones.

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The alliance argues that this practice violates European net neutrality laws. Deutsche Telekom denies the allegations.

What are the prospects for improvement?

As of March 2024, only about 34.2 percent of Berliners had access to fibre connections, with full coverage in the capital now projected for 2028.

Industry analysis by BREKO (Federal Association for Broadband Communications) suggests that the government is on target to meet its goal of 50 percent fibre optic availability across the country by the end of 2025.

But the organisation also notes that the overall rate of growth is slowing, and that targets for full coverage by 2030 are at risk without clear political commitment.

The positives

It may be slow and patchy but Germany’s digital infrastructure scores high marks internationally in areas like internet affordability and digital security.

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The country even secured first place overall in the Digital Quality of Life Index 2024, an annual study conducted by the cybersecurity company Surfshark.

According to the comparative study of 121 countries, Germany excelled in internet affordability (1st place), digital security (4th place), e-governance (9th), and digital infrastructure (11th).