Not One Person Gets The Advertised Broadband Speed
Research continually points out that broadband customers are struggling with their internet connections because despite what providers advertise, the actual speeds of most broadband network connections are about half of what is promised.
Ofcom took an in-depth look at one of the most popular internet service provider’s advertisements that claimed to offer speeds ‘up to’ 8mbps and found that most users only receive speeds of 3.9mbps. About 75% of UK households subscribe to this service which means a vast majority of UK citizens may be upset with their internet speeds.
For those who are not aware of what the speeds may translate into, with a speed of 3.9mbps it would take about two hours to download a full DVD quality film while it would only take an hour if the speeds delivered were the same as the speeds advertised.
According to further results from Ofcom, only one out of every ten homes that subscribe to an 8MB service actually get speeds that are faster than 6MB and not one home receives 8MB due to the way that ISP’s wire their networks.
Ofcom stated that the average speed that most people receive across the UK is 4.1MB which is enough to double the time of every download that you start.
26% of people told Ofcom that they were unhappy with the speeds they received since the speeds are not what they signed up to receive.
Tiscali and AOL which are owned by TalkTalk came in last in internet speeds delivered versus promised speeds with Virgin Mobile scoring the highest internet speeds in the UK with delivery that reaches up to 10MB.
The Communications Consumer Panel is advocating that ISP’s change their advertising to eliminate consumer complaints with the theory that customers will be satisfied if they are correctly informed versus mislead.
