Ofcom: ISPs not giving consumers the broadband speeds they pay for
- Added:
- Jul 27, 2010
Ofcom's latest UK Broadband Speeds study has found that UK ISPs regularly overstate their broadband speeds and only rarely give consumers the speeds they advertise.
Although the average fixed-line residential broadband speed has risen by over 25% during the last year (from 4.1Mbit/s to 5.2Mbit/s) web users subscribing to faster services are not getting what they paid for.
Only 2% of customers on the fastest 'up to' 20/24Mbit/s DSL services receive more than 14Mbit/s, while over 65% get average download speeds of only 8Mbit/s or lower. No panellists received download speeds greater than 18Mbit/s.
The study found that customers using cable services did better than those using DSL products. Virgin Media's 'up to' 10Mbit/s and 'up to' 20Mbit/s cable services delivered average download speeds around twice as fast as DSL packages with the same or similar headline speed.
Virgin Media's 'up to' 50Mbit/s cable service was the fastest service tested, delivering average download speeds of around 36Mbit/s with single thread tests and around 46Mbit/s with multi-thread tests conducted between 4 and 6am. A single thread test involves downloading a single file, while a multi-thread test downloads three files simultaneously (to simulate typical heavy broadband use).
Explaining the figures, Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, said, "The gap between the average headline speed and actual speed has increased in this period even though the actual speed has risen."
"Actual speeds are often much lower than many of the advertised speeds, which makes it essential that consumers are given information which is as accurate as possible at the point of sale."
Ofcom is pushing for a revamped Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds which is designed to give consumers a more accurate and consistent range of speeds their line is likely to support. ISPs will also be required to help consumers improve their speeds and allow them a three-month grace period during which they can cancel their contracts without penalty if their line speeds remain consistently below the estimate. All the UK's larger ISPs have agreed to the new code in principle.
Ofcom has also made the following recommendations to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP) about how broadband services should be advertised:
- Speeds should only be advertised if at least some consumers are actually able to achieve the advertised speeds.
- ISPs who advertise according to 'up to' speeds, should also include a 'typical speed range' (or TSR) based on a standard currency to be developed, similar to those in other industries (such as MPG in motoring).
The Advertising Standards Authority has said that the review should be finished by the end of the year.
Read more from Ofcom about the report here.
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