Broadband faster but shortfall in advertised speeds still a problem

Broadband speeds are getting faster but the disparity between advertised speeds and what people get continues, said Ofcom.

In its latest broadband speed report communications regulator Ofcom's current research found that overall speeds had risen by 22 per cent compared to 12 months ago, mainly because people had migrated to higher speed packages.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said: "It is encouraging that speeds are increasing and that consumers have a real choice of broadband service.

"There is a real opportunity for consumers to look at the packages and deals in their area in order to receive the best value, speeds and performance available to them."

However, the research also found that, despite new rules, there is a continuing mismatch in advertised speeds and what the majority of people actually received. Ofcom found that nearly half of consumers are still on speeds of 10Mbits/sec or less.

This is shown by the data used for the research. It is based on new advertising rules from the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), which say a minimum of 10 per cent of an internet service provider's customers must be able to achieve advertised ‘up to' speeds.

Ofcom's findings showed that in reality the required 10 per cent on an ‘up to' 8Mbits/sec service only get 6Mbits/sec, and those on advertised ‘ up to' 20Mbits/sec services were only getting 14Mbits/sec.

Ernest Doku at price comparison site uSwitch said that the disparity between advertised speeds and Ofcom's findings came as no surprise.

"According to almost 2.5 million home broadband speed tests carried out by consumers in 2011 using uSwitch's broadband speed testing tool, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of people have broadband speeds of less than 2Mbits/sec."

He also pointed out that Ofcom's research of 13 broadband packages doesn't mention the digital divide.

"This data doesn't mention the gaping divide between speeds in urban and rural areas.

"Although internet providers are investing millions of pounds in bringing the UK's broadband infrastructure into the 21st century, the reality is that many parts of Britain, and especially rural areas, are still operating in the broadband dark ages and are digitally isolated due to sluggish speeds and patchy coverage."

Ofcom said that it would continue to help consumers by improving the information available to help people choose the appropriate broadband service, through ongoing consumer research and advice.

Ed Richards said: "We can look forward to further increases in UK broadband speeds over the next few years.

"Most households in the UK can now access superfast broadband services, and these services are set to get faster still as Virgin Media aims to double the speeds of most of its cable services and BT aims to double the speed of its fibre-to-the-cabinet service from 40Mbits/sec to 80Mbits/sec."