London consumers should avoid getting caught out by broadband speeds

A recent report has warned consumers in London to be careful about getting caught out by false promises relating to broadband speeds, which are often far lower than those advertised.

Consumers in London as well as in many other parts of the country are keen to enjoy high speed broadband services, which is why many look at the speed of a service as a priority when choosing the most suitable broadband package or plan for their needs. With people using their broadband services for all sorts of higher bandwidth activities such as streaming content and online games more and more people are demanding faster speeds from their service.

However, there has been a lot of controversy over the way in which broadband providers advertise their broadband speeds. Many providers advertise their maximum speed, which can be misleading because consumers automatically assume that they will get this speed or at least something pretty close to it. However, this is often not the case, and consumers can end up getting just a fraction of the speed that has been advertised.

In London the average advertised speed from Internet service providers is said to be around 13Mbps. However, according to data the actual average speed is just 6Mbps, which is less than half the typical advertised speed. The report suggested that consumers use broadband comparison sites to get a better idea of what they would actually be getting with different providers before actually signing up.

Ofcom is currently looking into changing the regulations so that ISPs would have to advertise their typical speed rather than their up to speed. However, an official from BT said that this could have repercussions, stating: “Enforcing typical speed ranges is dangerous as it could encourage more ISPs to cherry-pick customers to increase their average, leaving customers in rural and suburban areas under-served. That would encourage digital exclusion rather than tackle it”.

Do you believe problems could arise from ISPs being forced to advertise typical rather than maximum speeds? Comment and let us know.

Source – Online-Broadband-Guide