UK Customers Receive Slower-Than-Advertised Broadband, Ofcom Takes Action
The United Kingdom's regulatory authority for telecommunication industries has reported that broadband customers have been sold fast connections that internet providers cannot supply. Ofcom, the UK's government-approved telecommunications regulatory authority, has conducted performance tests in over 1,000 homes throughout the UK and found that broadband packages do not produce the super-fast connections that internet providers advertise.
According to the report Ofcom released today, Britons receive an average broadband speed of 6.2 megabits per second (Mbps). The average advertised speed by internet providers is 13.8Mb, meaning that customers are receiving less than half of the advertised speed. "The research shows that ISPs need to do more to ensure they are giving customers clear and accurate information about the services they provide and the factors that may affect the actual speeds customers will receive," said Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive. "It is important that the rules around broadband advertising change, so that consumers are able to make more informed decisions based on the adverts they see, and that advertisers are able to communicate more clearly how their products compare to others in the market."
Ofcom is working to correct this false advertising of "up to" broadband speeds by Internet providers such as Sky, BT and O2 by giving its data to the Advertising Standards Authority's committee of advertising practice (CAP) and broadcast committee of advertising practice (BCAP) so a report can be made. Ofcom gathered its information by conducting performance tests in 1,700 homes in the UK. These tests were based on 11 broadband packages from the UK's seven largest providers, and took place over the course of November and December last year. Among the seven providers were TalkTalk and Virgin Media.
The performance tests revealed that those with fiber-optic cable packages received broadband speeds much closer to what was advertised, but only 22 percent of Britons have fiber-optic packages. Seventy-seven percent of Britons use copper-based DSL phone lines that receive much slower broadband speeds than advertised. The average broadband speed advertisement by internet providers is "up to" 13.8Mb, and the average speed received by customers is 6.2Mbps. Some providers even offer "up to" 20Mbps connections, where only 3 percent of customers receive a speed even close to that number. Sixty-nine percent of the population receives an average speed of less than 8Mbps.
