Ofcom says ISPs still exaggerating broadband speeds

Ofcom has conducted another round of research into UK broadband speeds (in conjunction with SamKnows), and the conclusion drawn is that service providers are still misleading customers when it comes to advertised and actual connection speeds.

This is despite a voluntary code of practice being introduced just over eighteen months ago by Ofcom, which obliged ISPs to give customers an actual realistic estimate of the speed achievable with their broadband service.

In fact, Ofcom points out that with faster broadband connections becoming more prevalent – a quarter of residential broadband connections now have an advertised speed of above 10Mbps in the UK, in comparison to just 8% in April 2009 – matters are getting worse.

The gap between the advertised speedier connections – ISPs claim “up to 24Mbps” for instance – and the actual speed achieved in the real world has increased.

Ofcom found that ADSL packages advertised with a headline speed of 8-10Mbps only actually achieved 3.3Mbps on average. 20-24Mbps packages fared even worse, only managing 6.5Mbps on average – a speed you can get on a top quality 8Mbps line.

Cable fared much better, with headline 10Mbps services achieving 8.7Mbps in the real world, although 20Mbps services were still more flawed, only managing 15.7Mbps on average. But that’s still clearly a far more consistent performance than ADSL manages.

The trouble with ADSL over a copper phone line is that a poor quality line degrades the speed, and distance from the exchange has as much if not more impact than that.

On the 20-24Mbps ADSL packages surveyed, only 2% of users actually got a speed of more than 14Mbps. Not a single line exceeded the 18Mbps mark, which really suggests at the very least, these lines should be advertised with an 18Mbps practical maximum.

Ofcom notes that while some broadband providers have moved away from using the “up to” convention for a theoretical maximum, others continue to employ the method, and it has been discussing this with Advertising Standards.

Ofcom has recommended that speeds should only be allowed to be advertised if at least some customers are actually achieving those speeds. It also suggests that “up to” advertisers should have to include a “typical speed range”, based on a standard to be developed.