How fast is your broadband?

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."