Average broadband speed 'still less than advertised'

Wednesday, 02 March 2011 02:22

Average download speeds are still less than half of the 'up to' speeds some internet service providers (ISPs) advertise.

Research conducted by Ofcom revealed that the average broadband speed increased from 5.2Mbit/s (May 2010) to 6.2Mbit/s (November/December 2010) but was less than half - 45 per cent - of the average advertised broadband speed of 13.8Mbit/s.

The body is now recommending that if speeds are used in broadband advertising they should be based on a Typical Speeds Range, to provide consumers with a clearer idea of what to expect from the service.

It is also advising that a maximum speed should only be used if it is actually achievable in practice by a material number of consumers.

The research studied 11 packages provided by the seven largest ISPs in the market and covers more than 90 per cent of residential broadband subscribers in the UK.

It saw around 18 million separate service performance tests carried out in over 1,700 homes during November and December 2010.

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