How fast is your broadband?
Tuesday 28th July 2009, 8:00PM BST.
No broadband customers are receiving the top download speeds advertised by internet service providers (ISPs), the communications watchdog said today.
More than half of broadband users are on packages that offer speeds of “up to” eight megabits per second (Mbps), but research by Ofcom found in practice they received an average speed of 3.9Mbps – less than half of the advertised maximum speed.
Ofcom said it was impossible for customers to receive the so-called “headline speed” of 8Mbps, because some capacity is reserved for technical reasons.
The highest speed a customer on an 8Mbps package could receive is 7.2Mbps, Ofcom said, and that is only likely if they live extremely close to the telephone exchange through which their connection is routed.
In Shropshire, broadband customers are receiving different download speeds, even though they pay the same price.
In Ketley, Telford, O2 Broadband offers 20Mbps with a free wireless router, Virgin Media XXL offers 50Mbps, making it the UK’s fastest broadband package, while Be Unlimited advertises 24Mbps. However, that does not mean customers are guaranteed to receive those speeds.
In Coleham, in Shrewsbury, Eclipse offers 24Mbps while other service providers offer 8Mbps. In Ludlow, customers are offered 8Mbps by most service providers, with only Eclipse offering higher speeds of 24Mbps.
The research by Ofcom shows that fewer than one in 10 customers on an 8Mbps package received an average speed of more than 6Mbps, and about one in five received an average speed of less than 2Mbps.
The Government’s Digital Britain report on the future of communications and media laid down 2Mbps as the minimum speed that should be available to all homes in the UK by 2012.
Download speeds are affected by the technology used to deliver broadband and the capacity of the ISPs’ networks, Ofcom said.
Peter Phillips, of Ofcom, said: “What we are trying to do here is make available information to people so they can make choices.”
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I’m Afraid I get particularly infuruated when I read this sort of article.
My business is internet service provision.
I have a long background, cc 40+ years as a professionally qualified communcations and IT engineer.
One of my specialist subjects is “broadband”
We sell broadband, and it is (or SHOULD BE) a well known fact that the “connect speed or sync speed” of conventional broadband that uses your phone line is as the primary connection path is:
Dependant upon the LENGTH (line loss) and QUALITY (noise margin) of your phone line.
BUT … that ISN’t the only factor that determines the speed of connection.
Goto http://www.speedtest.net and see how the speed of connections varies from servers in different locations.
As a simple analogy …
I could build a 10 lane road with “no speed limit” from your front door to the nearest motorway, BUT … would that give you a significantly overall lower journey time (“higher speed”) to a distant location??
Of course not! – and the intetnet works in a similar way!
On the other hand… IF you PAY EXTRA to use the M6 toll road, ( using a higher speed link for another part of your journey then ….. )
WAHT REALLY makes me SO annoyed is that the mainstream providers kid you that you will get such and such a speed, AND at such LOW cost !!
THE FACT is …. “Ye cannot defy the laws of physics”,
And …. for such a LOW cost of supply of broadband … HONESTLY .. come on ….WHAT DO you expect?
DOES ANYONE REALISE just HOW MUCH “REAL” BANDWIDTH COSTS ????
Try costing a private line, with low contetion and see what THAT costs per month !!!
THERE ARE many factors that determine the speed of a broadband connection, AND if you buy from a smaller company like mine, which is NOT SO CHEAP, but will spend time with you to get the best out of your connection, AND spend time explaining things, then you WILL get better performance.
THE SAD FACT is … broadband is sold FAR TOO cheaply, and you’ve got the service level you’ve paid for, indian call centres included !!
As I said … we supply broadband, mainly business to business service, we ain’t the cheapest, BUT we DO get consistently good results, AND none of our customers are under any illusions as to what they can expect.
IF you WANT good broadband, then you really need to talk to the likes if us !!
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Anyone getting even 1 Mbps should consider themselves lucky. I’m stuck with a long BT copper line that supports only 512 Kbps. BT’s failure to upgrade it’s network in country areas to 21st century standards places us in a worse position than some third world countries. The mobile operators are no better as 3rd generation cells necessary for fast wireless broadband are virtually non-existent outside major towns. Our telecomms companies seem more interested in squeezing every penny out of us whilst providing only archaic services.
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Hi John Howard.
I am sorry that you seem to have a “long line” (high loss) that will only support 512Kb.
I take it that you have had some good technical advice on this?
Have you actually measured line loss and noise margin? Most ADSL modems will show these figures within the setup/maintenance menus.
Are you on “8Mb ” broadband (rate adaptive) or is your service a fixed 512K ?
However….
The fact remains that, there is a very high cost to providing the country with high speed internet service.
As I’ve said, the large operators who supply much if not most of the market have driven prices so low that, in my opnion, there isn’t really any margin left to provide for the funding to upgrade the infrastructure.
(Hardly “squeezing the last penny out of us”.. actually!!)
The simple question is:
Whose going to pay for all this?
The only way Internet speeds are going to rise significantly is by the provision of fibre optic technology… And again …
Who is going to pay for all this?? – And why should BT upgrade its lines? They aren’t the only ISP using them!
You can buy broadband that passes over your BT line from any broadband operator – so where’s the incentive for BT?
Ofcom and the Government can say all they like about how fast the internet should be but, unless funding is provided by “them”, then I really don’t see how it’s going to happen “overall”.
Recabling Inner city areas , towns etc are one thing, but outlying areas, quite another !
Remember, “BT” started out in the early part of the last century as part of the Post Office (remember Post Office telephones?) – and so was effectivley government / public funded !
So again – whose going to pay to replace all those old cooper wires that were originally paid for by public funding?
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I live in Cherry Orchard, Shrewsbury and have my internet with Zen – I’m pleased with my 6.3mbps connection. I chose them for their reputed customer service, which is superb. I would prefer a higher download allowance (currently 6gb/month) for the cost (£17/month) but overall I’m happy.
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What I’d like to know is HOW MUCH Mr askeric dotcom is PAYING the SHROPSHIRE STAR to ADVERTISE his “broadband” in this COMMENT area.
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Doris the wood witch..
Now…. Doris the wood witch (#5), I Cant let you get away with that!
Will you kindly tell me ANYWHERE it can be established who I am, or my what my company’s details are, on these columns please ?
No you Can’t !! So .. HOW can it be construed as advertising my company?
And in any case, I wouldn’t be so daft as to give out the name of my company, as I would expect it to be removed by the moderators anyway!!- apart from the fact that I believe it would be unfair.
I take great exception to your comment.
My posts here were intended to help people achieve a better service, no matter WHO they are with.
Fact is .. unlike witchcraft, broadband is a science, and can be made to work more effectively IF you know what you’re doing, OR have a good ISP willing to give you time and techncial advice.
So Doris unless your witch’s powers have given you magical knowledge of who I and my company are …. It will remain a secret !!
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What annoys me is the likes of BT, who sell you an 8meg line and you pay extra for it than say the 2meg package. Then you get it, realize you only get 2meg and call them up only to now find you are now tied into a 12 month contract when you could have just got the cheaper 2 meg package.
But of course you dont know this until you have actually taken the broadband in the first place.
Why oh why dont ofcom make the ISP’s test your line from your house and tell you what speed you will get then only charge you on a package rated for that speed?
Joe Blog’s down the road could be paying for the cheaper package/speed and actually getting a faster speed than me.
Its fair enough that they have the disclaimer “no guarantee can be made for the actual speed you will receive” but while the ISP’s sell tiered packages for different speeds they should not be allowed to charge you for something at one price when you are actually receiving something that they also sell at a lower price.
It would be like an airline charging you extra for first class seats then putting you in economy while the people there are paying 1/2 the cost.
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Im meant to have 8mb, but im hardly even getting 500kbs, half than 1mb. Our lines around here are useless and i even live less than 2 miles from the exchange.
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