We investigate: the Broadband Code of Practice

Because even these maximum speeds can be influenced by a number of factors, ISPs also have to explain what these are. This will include what the ISPs’ contention ratios are (the number of people sharing the same connection) and the number of these subscribers online at any one time, by time of day and so on.

If the customer continues to receive an access line speed significantly lower than the estimate provided when they signed up, the ISP should offer the customer an alternative broadband package. If this is not possible, or the alternative is unacceptable, the Code gives no redress. However, the customer could consider the small claims court for breach of contract to end the service.

Ofcom has also demanded that customers be given clear information on an ISP’s traffic shaping and management policy. Sometimes called ‘bandwidth throttling’, this is when an ISP attempts to control the amount of data being sent over its network.

This results in connection speeds dropping. How this is handled varies from ISP to ISP; some will target people who download a lot, others will apply it to periods when a lot of people are online.

Ofcom said it would use mystery shopping exercises to check that ISPs honour their commitment. It also said that if it finds this voluntary approach is ineffective, it will consider introducing formal regulations.

Our verdict
Most experts are reasonably happy with the Code, saying it is a start, and already 37 ISPs (90 per cent of the major providers) have signed up. However, although they have six months to implement its rules, outwardly nothing has changed. Also the Code does not take on board the advertising factor.

ISPs are still advertising services saying customers can expect ‘up to’ anything from 8Mbits/sec to 22 Mbits/sec, yet a new poll from Uswitch shows that fewer than 1 in 10 customers with ‘up to 8Mbits/sec’ connections are confident that they receive their full 8Mbits/sec allowance.

We hope the voluntary approach will work but Ofcom may find that it needs to introduce formal regulations. It did so after the voluntary CoP that was meant to give consumers easy access to migration authorisation codes (MACs) was routinely flouted by ISPs.

Steps that isps have to take under the code
The steps that ISPs are required to take include:

• Providing customers at the point of sale with an accurate estimate of the maximum speed that their line can support, whether it is in the shop, over the internet or on the phone.
• Resolving technical issues to improve speed and offering customers the choice to move onto a lower speed package when estimates given are inaccurate.
• Ensuring all sales and promotion staff have a proper understanding of the products they are selling so they can explain to their customers the meaning of the estimates provided at the point of sale.
• Providing consumers with information on usage limits and alerting customers when they have breached them.