Ofcom: millions could get faster internet without paying more

[HEXUS]

And measures have been outlined to force ISPs to tell customers about their best deals.

Read more.

[EvilCycle]

Very admiral of Ofcom, what they are doing is absolutely right, but the problem is ISP's will just offset it by driving up prices for everybody in the long run once the networks become saturated with the new army of fibre users.

[Hoonigan]

What annoys me about internet, and this isn't entirely related but is something I've come across a couple of times recently, is people expecting fast internet, regardless of their location.

I know someone who has just moved house and now they're complaining to their ISP that the internet isn't as fast as the last place. They did no prior checks what so ever.

[shaithis]

What annoys me about internet, and this isn't entirely related but is something I've come across a couple of times recently, is people expecting fast internet, regardless of their location.

I know someone who has just moved house and now they're complaining to their ISP that the internet isn't as fast as the last place. They did no prior checks what so ever.

With fibre everywhere, it should be a moot point but as usual, BT are profit driven, regardless of how money the government give them to provide the infrastructure.

[philehidiot]

My internet is slowing down likely due to more traffic shaping. Incredibly fast sometimes but you get to a certain peak time and certain sites slow down quite a lot. I'm not sure if its BT wholesale doing it or Plusnet or both. If it's the former then I'm assuming changing ISP won't help as it's beyond their control.

[Ballantin]

My internet is slowing down likely due to more traffic shaping. Incredibly fast sometimes but you get to a certain peak time and certain sites slow down quite a lot. I'm not sure if its BT wholesale doing it or Plusnet or both. If it's the former then I'm assuming changing ISP won't help as it's beyond their control.

That's not entirely true. Some ISP offer to put your connection in a priority list that just bypasses traffic shaping, up to some extent.

[philehidiot]

That's not entirely true. Some ISP offer to put your connection in a priority list that just bypasses traffic shaping, up to some extent.

Ah not seen that. Gonna guess those are the more expensive ones... which would be why I've never seen it.

[cheesemp]

This is understandable but I guess it'll put my price up. Always switched to end up paying nearly nothing for fibre to the cabinet.

I wish they'd crack down on BT dropping unlimited unless you get Infinity 2. I can't get more than 30Mb so why should I pay for more... I well exceed any 'limited' package. I'd pay for faster speeds if they where available.

[DanceswithUnix]

They did no prior checks what so ever.

I did checks before going to view a house, but probably because the house I was leaving had a really poor internet connection so it was a more obvious consideration.

OTOH, a couple of time I have had people say something like: "I switched away from that ISP you recommended to someone much cheaper, but now my internet is slow and drops out and the new ISP isn't helpful. Can you recommend someone cheap that is as good as that other ISP?" Simple answer, no

I'm on Zen, there wasn't an initial period for the service there was just the price you have to pay. It has always been a bit expensive, but I feel I can rely on it.

[Bagpuss]

My biggest gripe are the ridiculous 18mth contracts they insist on, 12mths I can understand but 18mths? no, its completely unreasonable.

I 'could' get BT's 350Mbit Fibre2 package at the flat I'm renting but I'm only on a rolling 6mth rental agreement, which due to work means I could leave at pretty short notice.

So instead, I have no choice but to stick to my tethered 4G connection, through my mobile, which only gives me around 25-40Mbit but means of course, it can go where I go without me having to pay exorbitant fees to leave a Broadband contract early.

[Zak33]

I'm on Zen, there wasn't an initial period for the service there was just the price you have to pay. It has always been a bit expensive, but I feel I can rely on it.

me too

I moved house last year, had a really random speed issue, and they put me on a different connection in the local exchange until the hardware was swapped out. As ever, I pay extra for the service because Zen are not cheap... and I get that service. And when they can't mend it immediately they do what they can to move it along.

[Iota]

I suppose Ofcom means well, and they've done wonders for the market so far. Really though they need to stop ISPs locking people into 12 months+ contracts unless the ISP will automatically lower the price the customer pays if the ISP offers the same (or really similar....) package for lower during that period, without resetting the 12 months+ period.

Could be far worse, at least Ofcom is far better than the FCC in trying to protect consumers.

[maverick77_uk]

Hi all,

This report sees a little more rounded than an earlier one I read. Here is states the important part - "Without paying more". A report I read the other day was just saying people weren't getting the maximum speed they could, and seemed to go into a lot of detail without stating the obvious - cost.

It also continues to amaze me that only 10 years ago, 1 or 2Mbit was standard, now there are people on here whinging at 25Mbit!

I live a fair distance from an exchange and I'm on standard copper wire broadband. I get a stonking 2.5Mbit (yes, 2.5 - the 0.5 is important to mention when you are at these speeds!). I could of got fibre, but it costs more. This year was the first time Virgin has installed cables in our area - pretty phenomenal as I live in Cardiff! so I could now get Virgin at 300Mbit+ However, I can do everything I want on 2.5Mbit - surf, stream (albeit in SD only), download games (as long as I plan for when I want to play them / have them downloaded by!).

Every year the IP tries to stick the prices up to more than fibre, and I just contact them and they either take them back down, or a leave and go to a different provider on a new deal, and repeat. I've therefore been with Talk Talk, Sky and I'm now with Now Broadband (effectively Sky).

Why pay £30+ a month when for £18 I get unlimited broadband that does everything I need and free calls thrown in as well this time

I think I big problem is the "want it now" culture. People want to download while stream, while surf. If you plan it a bit - turn off downloads when you want to stream etc, you can get away with very low bandwidth

[Iota]

I think I big problem is the "want it now" culture.

Well at least it's a fitting term for "on demand". I remember when 1.5mbps was "fast", heck I recall the earlier modems prior to that. 39mbps is slow, especially when you've digressed from 150mbps. It would be as bad as going from 2.5mbps to 56kbps all over again.

To put it into context, the home broadband I can get now is essentially the same speed as 4G would provide. Mobile data connections are getting to the stage where they will surpass "superfast" broadband.

[lyesbkz]

I find that it's really hard to get any information about upstream speeds. Before switching to fibre, I was getting very good downstream speeds (and didn't really need anything faster). The issue was that I never got more than 0.1mbps upstream and, no matter which ISP I spoke with, nobody could confirm what sort of upstream speeds I was likely to get with them.

I eventually ended up on Virgin Media, after it finally became available on my street, with 200mbps down and 10mbps up. To this day, I don't know how to find out what kind of upload speeds to expect from an ISP without actually switching and running a speed test myself!

[aidanjt]

It also continues to amaze me that only 10 years ago, 1 or 2Mbit was standard, now there are people on here whinging at 25Mbit!

That's because that was 10 years ago, and technology changes over time, as well as consumer expectations along with it. I'm not sure why you'd intentionally pursue terrible value for money that wastes your time and provides an inferior internet usage experience just to save a few quid, though. Weird flex, but alright.