Is my broadband fast enough for iPad?

I am toying with the idea of buying an iPad. However, I live in a remote Peak District village, which has hardly any mobile phone signal and the broadband is slow. I am told that my broadband comes with Wi-Fi, but I’ve never used it. Would the Wi-Fi on an iPad be the same speed as my broadband? I am told there are no plans to upgrade the local exchange.
John Cooper, by email

Wi-Fi is simply a wireless link that connects your iPad or laptop to your broadband router/modem. Depending on the system used data transfer rates are typically between 6 and 150Mbits/sec, which will be significantly faster than your broadband connection, so this remains the bottleneck. Unfortunately there is little that you can do to improve it at your end, apart from switching to a faster service, if and when one becomes available, or consider alternatives, like satellite broadband.