News - Ofcom confirms the obvious: UK average broadband speeds are lower than adverti

[HEXUS]

Ofcom's largest-ever study of UK broadband speeds has revealed an average nationwide speed of just 3.6Mbps.

Read more.

[0iD]

But everyone know that already. Must be a slow news day

[nukeman8]

another annoying things is the lack of service provider choices where i live (lincolnshire) i can aol/bt/and another not so good provider, all the decent ones sky/o2 i cant get

[TAKTAK]

another annoying things is the lack of service provider choices where i live (lincolnshire) i can aol/bt/and another not so good provider, all the decent ones sky/o2 i cant get

depends entirely what exchange you're on and as to whether any companies feel like LLU is worth it in the area the exchange serves.

You could go with any ADSL provider, just not LLU providers...

(TalkTalk is the only LLU available to me so we're on Sky connect - Winterton exchange)
Although one good thing to do to boost your speed, is get the ISP to send an openreach engiee out, for him to say he can't do anything, and then give him a bacon sarnie...

It's amazing what a sarnie can do... ~0.5Mbps to ~3Mbps

[tom-uk]

If you think that's bad, don't come and live in Hull. You don't even really get a choice. It's either Karoo internet (supposedly 8Mb) or a rubbish mobile broadband deal.

[TAKTAK]

If you think that's bad, don't come and live in Hull. You don't even really get a choice. It's either Karoo internet (supposedly 8Mb) or a rubbish mobile broadband deal.

that is a very good point, Kingston communications line leasing is dire and no ISP wants to take on the added cost, and then KCOM's ISP doesn't exactly offer decent value... considering it is one of the most expensive posible due to no competition in the area...

[Hicks12]

The thing is, even if people dont notice much of a difference from 2mb---> 8mb(or something) its not the point because they are PAYING for a service and are not getting it. Hard to think of an example but if your on a phone contract and pay £20 for 300 mins and 200 text(random number) then even if you use 275mins you would expect to have a limit of 300mins right? You paid for them 300mins even if you dont use it all so they are profiting from you not using it.

Think ofcom should change it so ISP have to offer a certain amount of speed, say if they say "up to 8mb broadband" then it should be like 10 or 20% below it maximum.

[TAKTAK]

The thing is, even if people dont notice much of a difference from 2mb---> 8mb(or something) its not the point because they are PAYING for a service and are not getting it.

Well... they are getting the service as advertised...

Upto 8Mb includes 0.5Mb and the whole shabang...

They cannot give an exact figure within a guaranteed range, as there are just too many variables..

For example, the copper quality varies throughout the country...
Extension and quality of extension varies, line length varies for every single home in the country...

They have to market the service to everyone (otherwise it is a poor marketing campaign...), and the only way to do that is by saying they will provide UPTO an 8Mb connection...

Some people get the full 8Mb
Some people get 6Mb
Some get 3.7Mb
And some get 0.5Mb

They have to cover the range, which they do, by saying upto...

They don't say "Choose BT for 8Mb broadband today", it's "Choose BT for upto 8Mb broadband today"

It is all legally laid out in their terms and conditions, so people have no right to complain about the advertising practises of 'upto' just because they have missed it by not reading the terms and conditions, which most places put links to and require you to tick a box stating you have read them...

If they don't read them, anything could be on them... People could be sponsoring a camel to fly to the moon for all they know.

If people took the time to read things instead of just saying 'Yeah sure' then there would be alot less crap being bandied about in general, and less people suing left right and centre, it's just pathetic...

[Hicks12]

I know but it still isnt right is it? Its justified but there should be a proper minimum etc, its just as bad as throttling by virgin .

[nukeman8]

guess i stop moaning how bad my choices are, guess i get it easy