By Jo Best, 15 March 2006 15:15
NEWS
Research out today shows the average UK broadband connection is now running at just under 2Mbps.
According to research consultancy XTN Data, the largest group of broadband users - 39 per cent - have speeds of 2Mbps, followed by 29 per cent on 1Mbps and another 20 per cent on 512Kbps.
While ISPs have been falling over themselves to provide next generation broadband services offering speeds up to 22Mbps, a far smaller slice of broadband Britain has actually taken up the speedier connections - 4Mbps and 8Mbps connections are being used by six per cent each of the DSL population.
According to XTN Data, the reason why most of the UK's broadband users are logging on to the internet using connections slower than 2Mbps is that many ISPs are reselling them connectivity bought from BT Wholesale - which is capped at a top speed of 2Mbps.
With the advent of local loop unbundling where ISPs can effectively take over a telephone exchange by putting in their own equipment speeds are expected to rise.
The report from XTN Data also found that an average broadband customer will spend three hours of their time surfing the net for fun every day. Interestingly, the average dial-up user spends roughly the same time online, according to the report.
According to the report, most high-speed broadband users are NTL-Telewest customers a combined figure of 26 per cent, followed by BT at 18 per cent and AOL with 11 per cent. Broadband Britain seems to now be a relatively settled nation, with just 10 per cent of users eyeing up a switch to another provider.
Comments
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1. Derek
If only I could get that sort of speed. My house is around 2 miles from the exchange and the only connection speed we can get is the basic 512 service. I've been given the upgrade option by both providers I've been with, only to have the offer withdrawn once they've tested the line. It wouldn't be so bad if we actually got that speed 24/7, but you can tell when the neighbours are also using their connections, speed drops like a stone in water.
2. martyn
The reality is that in supposedly Broadband Britain there are areas even within our largest cities where reliable 1mb is frequently unachievable and 2mb is out of the question.
Against this background who can be surprised at the scepticism of those who don't actually live inside a BT exchange.
3. Julian Nicholls
I'll have 2MBit, as soon as BT can get it out as far as me. I live too far from the exchange at the moment, although my 1MBit is rock-solid.
It was only last year that 512KBit was all that was available to me, so they are showing some commitment to reaching more rural customers.
4. M Horwell
I did upgrade to NTL's 10Mb service, which lasted for less than a week! Before upgrading from 1Mb, I was running a download speed of 900k consistantly. After the upgrade to 10Mb, I was achieving downloads between 4Mb and 200Kb!!! Needless to say, after much complaining, I'm now on 2Mb which is a little more resilient.
The reason for the lack of 10Mb? Stoke-on-Trent cannot cope with 10Mb until the upgrades are complete in March!
5. anonymous
Few legal home broadband users need more than 1Mb. This suggests illegal music and film downloading is rife in the UK!
6. Terry Connor
Iwould certainly like a faster connection, but BT it seems, thinks the present speed is enough for us mere mortals, that do not use broadband for commercial puposes.
Personaly, i would like to see the speed go as fast as possible!
7. anonymous
I have just asked AOL to upgrade me from their silver to gold - but they cant because "the BT line wont support gold speeds - contact BT". I did and BT says I cant have any faster than the BT line I have got. Despite the constant stream of ads from AOL to upgrade, is it the case that MOST people cannot do so?.
8. Richard Pettigrew
Not all home broadband users needs faster than 1Mbps for illegal filesharing...
Some of us are actually homebased workers and need a faster connection speed to support our SOHO environment.
On that note it is incredibly short sighted of Telco's (BT in particular) not to roll out faster services. "If you build it they will come". For SOHO & SME businesses, they really need to be able to access faster services, most notably they need beter upstream bandwidths not the 2Mps downstream/256kbps upstream crap that we have.
Its about time we had some more choice - like being able to have 1Mbps upstream. Lots of SME's now struggle to take advantage of things like Windows Sharepoint Services (& SBS 2003) because of the low upstream speed on their ADSL broadband link.
9. Richard Sarson
The moral is, if you are in a Telewest-ntl area, keep well away from BT. I got 512kbs from Telewest in 2001, and am now on, allegedly, 4Mb - realistically about 2Mb.
The higher speeds are necessary for legal uses: swapping photos, downloading reports, magazines and software updates, watching Parliamentary debates and TV programmes.
I would prefer far higher upload speeds, for seamless video-conferencing, but at the moment such services are for techies only.
10. anonymous
All well and true but NTL will still not provide a Broadband Service in West London and every other provider says you have to get a new line to be able to get fast speeds without porting the number! Absolutly useless! So am still stuck on 512K!
11. M Horwell
I take it the Anonymous Consultant is trying to accuse me of downloading illegal material?
I've never once downloaded any entertainment from the internet, I prefer my mp3's to have CD clarity.
For your information, I'd like more bandwidth to remove the lag from gaming! When you consider the Japanese have over 50Mb connections to each household, and that even the Americans have faster connections than the UK, us UK Gamers are always the brunt of the jokes when it comes to laggy gaming!
It's attitudes and ignorance like Anonymous that stop the rollout of faster broadband that will benefit the whole country and business, not just the illegal downloaders.
12. anonymous
I would suggest that to spend three hours of your non-working day on the Internet, everyday, would be near impossible if you have any fom of normal life. Perhaps three hours a day at the weekend, but not everyday.
The additional reason for the lack of subscription to the higher Mbps DSL circuits available on the market is due to the cost of the circuit. As it is clear that, in the average family, children lead with Internet use and parents come in a late second, it is hard to justify £40 per month to get an 8Mbps connection.
The joke is that noone ever gets this kind of bandwidth anyway, even if you are told your contention is 50:1 the truth is worse in most cases. Companies such as Telewest further contend the lines behind their LNS router, and lie to the public about the real contention ratio.
13. Joe Log
In response to Anonymous Uk Consultant -that having reasonably
fast broadband indicates illegal
d/loads...as Homer S would say
....DOH! using this logic watch out for ALL those hi -performance cars they
are all zooming along at 100mph+
don't suppose we'll need b/band
for video on demand, running own server, running business from home,etc.