Ofcom study reveals jump in UK broadband speeds

Most people fail to notice changes when they occur in small increments or when they come about gradually. So it might come as a pleasant surprise that UK consumers are now experiencing broadband connections that are 22% faster than they used to be twelve months ago. This is according to the results from a recent study conducted by Ofcom.

The average actual UK residential broadband speed from November 2011 was found to be 7.6Mbps. In November/December 2010, it was recorded to be 6.2Mbps, while it was 6.8Mbps last May 2011.

The regulator’s research revealed that the increase was due to users switching to higher speed broadband packages. In November of last year, 58% of UK residential broadband connections had a headlined or advertised speed that was above 10Mbps. This showed an increase of ten percent from 48% last May.

However, over four in every ten consumers have stuck it out with their current broadband packages that have speeds of 10Mbps or less, even though they can easily get access to faster connections with little or no additional costs.

Ofcom’s latest study indicates that the industry average speed based on the 10 percent availability criteria is 6Mbps for providers who advertise speeds of “up to” 8Mbps and 14Mbps for those who advertise speeds of “up to” 20-24Mbps. The study also revealed something that many already knew: fibre-based and cable broadband technologies were able to provide the fastest connections to subscribers.

The speeds provided by Virgin Media’s “up to” 50Mbps connections had the highest average download speeds that were recorded to be 49Mbps. BT’s fibre-based services, BT Infinity, came in at a close second, delivering average download speeds of 36Mbps. BT’s service, however, was the one that achieved the highest average upload speeds of 8.8 Mbps.

Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards, stated: “It is encouraging that speeds are increasing and that consumers have a real choice of broadband service. There is a real opportunity for consumers to look at the packages and deals in their area in order to receive the best value, speeds and performance available to them.”

He adds: “We can look forward to further increases in UK broadband speeds over the next few years. Most households in the UK can now access superfast broadband services, and these services are set to get faster still as Virgin Media aims to double the speeds of most of its cable services and BT aims to double the speed of its fibre-to-the-cabinet service from 40Mbps to 80Mbps.”