Broadband not up to speed says which.co.uk

More than a third of Which? members now have broadband packages offering speeds of ‘up to’ 8Mbps or faster. However a speed test with more than 300 customers of 27 different ISPs (http://www.which.co.uk/broadband ) found that customers promised up to 8 Mbps actually achieved 2.7Mbps on average, with the lowest speed achieved just 0.09Mbps.

Broadband speed is advertised as ‘up to’ because it can be affected by many factors including the time of day, how far the phone line has to stretch to the telephone exchange and the contention ratio – the maximum number of people sharing the same connection to the exchange.

The Advertising Standards Agency says that using the words ‘up to’ is acceptable if most people can get close to those speeds. But which.co.uk (http://www.which.co.uk ) says that the advertised broadband speeds can be misleading and wants Ofcom and Trading Standards to investigate providers’ claims.

The which.co.uk test results are published alongside its twice-yearly ISP satisfaction survey (http://www.which.co.uk/broadband ), which shows that just 30 per cent of Which? members on average are very satisfied with their service. Smaller providers Global, Waitrose and Zen come out top, with big names AOL, BT and Virgin Media rated below average. Six providers are named as Which? Don’t Buys – including the ‘free’ broadband ISPs Orange, Sky and TalkTalk.

Malcolm Coles, Editor, which.co.uk, says:
“It’s shocking that internet service providers can advertise ever-increasing speeds that seem to bear little resemblance to what most people can achieve in reality. If it’s unlikely you’ll reach the advertised speed it should be made clear up front, so that you know with some certainty what you’re buying.

“Do your research to check what speed you’re likely to get before upgrading, and if you think what you’re getting differs vastly from what you’ve paid for, speak to your provider – or if they won’t help, report them to Ofcom.”

About us
Which? is the leading independent consumer champion in the UK and has been testing products and services, as well as campaigning on behalf of the consumer, since 1957. It is committed to making individuals as powerful as the organisations they have to deal with in their daily lives. which.co.uk (http://which.co.uk ) provides up to date, impartial, expert information on thousands of products and services to help people make the right choices, whatever they’re buying.