Regulator confirms broadband speeds far slower than advertised

The UK communications regulator Ofcom has recently confirmed that broadband customers in the UK are generally receiving only fifty percent of the speeds that are being advertised by ISPs, leading to criticism of providers from a variety of consumer groups.

There have been many reports released over the speeds that broadband consumers in the UK are receiving compared to the broadband speeds being advertised by their Internet Service Providers. The recent confirmation in a report by Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, that broadband customers are generally receiving only fifty percent of the speed that they are paying for, has therefore come as no surprise to most.

Following a recent survey Ofcom revealed that when it came to downloading pages, films, music, etc online, consumers were generally getting only half of the advertised speed. The study found that most customers sign up to broadband packages with up to 8Mbps speeds advertised, but nine major providers only achieved around fifty seven percent of the headline speed that had been advertised.

An official from consumer watchdog, Which?, stated: “UK broadband is simply not up to speed, and it’s outrageous that ISPs can make sky-high claims when the reality is that many consumers are getting far from stellar performance. Our own research has found a huge gap between advertised broadband speeds and the actual speeds users can achieve – in the worst case, we found customers promised up to 8 Mbp/s achieved just 0.09 Mbit/s.”

An offocial from Ofcom added: “Our research found small but significant differences between the performance of individual ISPs over the period we conducted the research, largely driven by the technology employed and capacity of the networks.”

Source – independent