ISPs still confusing consumers over speed

The voluntary code of practice (CoP) introduced by Ofcom last year to give consumers a clearer understanding of the speeds they can get from their broadband service does not appear to be working.

According to independent broadband news and information service, Thinkbroadband.com, the two most common questions asked by visitors to the site still concern speed.

Consumers remain confused about what speeds they should be getting from their internet service provider (ISP) and why their connections slow down at certain times of the day.

A number of ISPs have been guilty of making exaggerated claims about the speeds people can get if they sign up to their service. For ADSL and ADSL2+ services the most important factor is the length of the telephone line from the exchange to the home. This means that an ISP customer who signs up to an 'up to 8Mbits/sec' service may only receive 3.2Mbits/sec if their telephone line is around 5km (3 miles) long. ISPs were not making this clear to consumers.

Although occasionally rapped over the knuckles by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for not making it clear that most people would never get the advertised speeds, they continue to get away with this thanks to two simple words – ‘up to’.

Sebastien Lahtinen, founder of Thinkbroadband.com, said: "We have found that the nature of the queries we receive seems to revolve around the same issues year after year. The two most popular questions focused on speed."

The CoP introduced by Ofcom, the telecommunications regulator, was meant to clear up any confusion. Although voluntary, most major ISPs did agree to abide by the rules to be more upfront about the speeds customers can expect to get.

This means that before someone signs up for a service, ISPs have to give a good approximation of the estimated maximum speed the consumer’s line can support; so even if the service the customer is interested in offers up to 8Mbits/sec, but their line's maximum speed will only reach 2Mbits/sec, this must be made clear.

Ofcom also told ISPs that they have to provide a facility on their websites so that consumers themselves can find out, in a clear and easily accessible manner, what their estimated access line speed is.

Andrew Ferguson of Thinkbroadband.com said that part of the problem is that the CoP is not tightly worded.

"Although things have got a little better, there is still a lot of room for ISPs to manoeuvre. There are two problems. The speed prediction on ISPs sites can only give an estimate," he said.

"Many people still only see the headline speed and some ISPs are hiding behind this prediction when people try to report speed problems.

"Clever sales patter can also be misleading; when people are told a line should support for example 6Mbits/sec, people don’t often realise ‘should’ is only an estimate and does not mean a line will in any guaranteed sense.

"Also when an ISP says it has tested the line it usually hasn’t and is relying on checking a database and these records can be wrong," he said.

He added that to compound consumers’ confusion, sales and support staff are also often not technically competent enough to advise customers.

"There is scope for an ISP to look at a number of things if someone’s speed appears to be too low, but often staff don’t realise this," he said.

Consumers can view the other questions about broadband, along with answers, by viewing the article. This also links to the Thinkbroadband.com forum where consumers can access further help and advice from its members.

Ofcom is expected to publish a report outlining the UK's fastest and slowest broadband providers in April.