By David Meyer, 3 August 2007 15:27
NEWS
The average speed of an 8Mbps broadband connection is just 2.7Mbps, according to a survey released by Which?, the consumer rights group.
Which? surveyed 300 people who had signed up to broadband services advertised as being "up to" 8Mbps in download speeds. Apart from calculating the average speed, it said the slowest download speed it found was a paltry 90Kbps.
There are several factors that affect ADSL speeds. The crucial two are contention - the number of people using the same connection to the exchange - and distance from the exchange. It is, therefore, very rare for a user to attain the advertised speeds but Which? has questioned the way in which those speeds are advertised, pointing out that the Advertising Standards Authority's (ASA) guidelines accept the words "up to" only when most customers will get close to those speeds.
Which? editor Malcolm Coles said: "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."
Coles said customers who find themselves getting speeds far lower than those advertised should report their provider to Ofcom.
The telecoms regulator said it is aware of the problem. "We have been working very closely with the ASA on labelling and advertising of these services," said a spokesperson.
Pointing out that the ASA has in the past rebuked operators such as Wanadoo (now Orange) and Bulldog (now part of Tiscali) over their 8Mbps claims - and Be Broadband over its 24Mbps claims - the spokesperson said the ASA has "taken a very proactive role" and claimed Ofcom is now "looking at how the rest of the issue can be approached in an effective way".
However, despite the industry-wide nature of the problem, the ASA conceded the watchdog could only investigate such claims on the basis of each individual advertisement. "Our remit only extends to advertising content and we can only go so far as getting an advertiser to change their ad," a spokesperson said.
Trading Standards has also expressed an interest in the report, a Which? spokesperson said. However, it seems likely they will "take a back seat for the moment" while Ofcom decides what measures it will take.
Another recent survey, by the website Moneysupermarket.com, suggests only one in five consumers get the broadband speed they signed up for, yet only 30 per cent of those surveyed felt they had been misled by their providers' advertising.
David Meyer writes for ZDNet UK
Comments
There are 17 comments. Join the discussion
1. Clement Wasonga
Thanks alot David for your remarks and observations.
Having worked in a Government Corporation, I clearly agree with your results.
What happens in ADSL is this:.
DSLAMs are actually rated according to set up Bandload/Bandwidth (bytes/bits).
Because this is a shared service Technology, Manufacturers don't want users (who are actually not Technical) to knows all these details for fear of loosing.
Consumption (load/speed) is controlled by your PC relative to CACHING capability not pipe size.
The topic is deep and am not able to detail it all in this space, but I have facts (elaborate)
2. Ralph
Surely people don't really expect to get an 8 meg connection, when the advertising blurb says 'up to' 8MB?
Ah, of course they do. They think 'up to' means the same as 'equals'. It's the whole £9.99 mentality, whereby people actually pronounce a price as just the pound figure, ignoring the fact that a penny or five pence back equates to pretty much another pound.
So, rather like 'free' offers from various high-street names on phones, it's clawed back, one way or another, by the businessess involved, 'cos they are,after all, involved in the business of making a profit.
Fortunately, I have 7.2 Mps and 8 Mps on my two lines, so I can be smug.
3. Graham Coles
This is not just affecting ADSL.
My cable provider is supplying me with 'up to' 2Mb broadband, however as I constantly monitor bandwidth this usually starts off yielding about 2 meg, then mysteriously drops to half that soon after.
Doesn't happen quite so much in the early hours of the morning, so it looks as though they are simply capping the bandwidth in the daytime/evening (while advertising their 'up to' 20MB broadband -- wonder if that's where all my bandwidth went!)
4. Colin M
Be broadband advertise up to 24MB downloads.
I get a mere 14.5MB download speed (with 1.1MB uploads)
I am totally upset with my house builder for having built my house so far from the exchange that I cannot get the full 24MB!
Seriously - what part of "up to" do people not understand?
5. JohnH
This article does nothing to address the immense problem of exactly how average punters can work out what download rate they are really getting, whether ADSL or other types. Until that's sorted, the debate is essentially meaningless.
6. Julian Nicholls
I posted on the BBC website when they got hold of this story last week. Here is what I said:
1. UP TO 8Mbps. When I signed up, the BT site said my line would do 2. I immediately got about 3, that's now 4Mbps.
2. At no time did my broadband supplier say I would get 8Mbps, their website says about 40% get 6Mb+, and another 25% get between 4 and 6Mb.
3. Frankly, I'm deliriously happy with 4Mbps, considering how far I live from the exchange and how recently my line didn't support ADSL, full stop.
7. Ron Etherington
Clement - perhaps you could post where we might find the full details. I would certtainly like to know how to check the ACTUAL speed of my connection.
8. Graham Coles
Perhaps it's time for the 'Llap Goch' police (i.e. the ASA) to step into the picture.
If you're not familiar with the welsh art of self-defense, or its appilcability, see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llap_Goch
I'm actually astounded that the ASA let broadband providers continue to advertise this way. There wouldn't be a problem if, like fuel consumption figures, they were mandated to provide minimum, average and maximum figures for the area.
Whereas car manufacturers usually provide (optimistic) figures for urban driving as well as their potential ideal maximum mpg, broadband advertisers seem not to be inclined to provide anything other than their fastest, theoretically achievable figures.
Perhaps if the ASA were to deem that unreasonable and force the issue, people would complain less. Is there any reason why these providers don't have to comply with fair advertising and provide some realistic adverts?
9. Simon Cox
I used to dream of a 9.6kb modem years ago while I was waiting for my 2.4kb modem to download small text files. Any broadband is a luxury!
To Ralph - yes people do expect what has been advertised, after all the providers expect them to pay a full £9.99 - not up to £9.99.
To Graham. Must be the same cable provider I have. And what is worse as soon as they started advertising thier new 20mb pipe I started loosing connectivity at random times during the day for 30 mins to 2 hours and they will not own up to it. And they have just changed thier IT support to a 25p per minute line that has cost me a packet to tell them that thier routers were falling over. And.. well I will save the rest for a blog post.
10. anonymous
You may have the fastest ADSL connection avalable but most websites are 'choked' as to how fast you can download from them anyway. You also get different download speeds depending on which browser you are using. on a 8Mb line (8 Mega bit) I can achive 500KB (500 Kilo BYTE) using Opera but under Internet explorer I may only get 300KB from the same site.
the biggest confusion is to do with bits and bytes (1 Byte = 8 bits). therefore a 8Mbit line will only ever be able to theoretically achieve 1MByte.
Don't rely on speed check sites as these are never acurate or realistic, I have found them to always read a lot lower than it should do.
I have found 'Which' to be very bias on many reports so I wouldn't read to much into their survey of a very small number of people. Must remember to cancel the subscription!!
11. Simon
About time the authorities (particularly the ASA) stopped endorsing the blatently misleading adverts. Speed is only one issue - and don't forget that NO ONE gets 8M at all, that is only the maximum raw rate of the line before taking overheads off. Even allowing for that, very few live close enough tot he exchange to get the full max of something like 7 1/2M.
All this "up to" business is designed to inflate expectations because the advertisers know that people go off the headlines and don't read the small print (untill it's too late !).
After the ADSL line rate, there's further limitation due to congestion in the ISPs backhaul - and all the ISPs (budget ones in particular) do not buy enough - and they know it. Many (all ?) now do traffic shaping/prioritisation to try and hide the facts and only a few will admit that they do this !
The other big issue is the outright lie about "unlimited" - and this is where I turn into "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells". The ASA has repeated ruled that describing an out and out limited service as unlimited is OK as long as the ad mentions that "terms and conditions apply". Has anyone read some of the T&Cs or AUPs of these 'unlimited' services ?
A handful of ISPs (PlusNet for example) are open and honest about this - describing their packages in terms of monthly traffic allowances. Hopefully as video picks up and people on the cheap packages get crapper and crapper service (and contract terminations for using it too much), more people will come to ask what on earth is going on and realise that they've been systematically lied to AND that the bodies responsible for policing things have colluded with it !
Perhaps we should have a campaign for truthful broadband - where the ISP must quote not only the peak theoretical speed, but also the committed rate after contention (ie the MINIMUM GUARANTEED rate). They must also label packages with the monthly traffic allowance.
If such rules were the norm then people would soon realise what's going on and we'd see marketing based on real capacity, not what they can hide from the idio^H^H^H^Hcustomers !
So how about it Silicon.com - a "campaign for real broadband" ?
12. Ralph
I was being slightly tounge-in-cheek Simon. It's a clever marketing ploy, used by lots of businesses.
Quite frankly, the ASA should be bringing in changes to advertising rules, stating something along the lines of, 'typical line speeds are...' why the ASA are so toothless, I do not know.
13. anonymous
A recent TV advert claimed that the ISP's Broadband speed was the same _irrespective_ of distance from the exchange. We all know this is untrue, yet they said it. At the end of the ad, the small print said it only applied to cable customers (who, therefore, aren't connected to an exchange, so the distance degradation doesn't apply to them).
How did the ASA/OFT allow such blatant lies to be told just to make them appear better than any any other re-seller of BT ADSL?
14. Ian Proud
I am waiting for someone to tell me how I can measure my broadband download rate so I know whether to be pleased or displeased.
15. Suresh
Ralph in Hamphire please tell us who your ISP is.
Silicon should start a campaign regarding this third class service we in UK suffer. Our counterparts in Europe are really getting very good service so why are we here left out. We are part of Eu. BT have a very strong control and will not let any other enterprise entertain in our area. Please silicon do something. Also educate the masses out there about the lousy broadband service we are getting and been conned. We are worst than the developing countries.
16. Julian Nicholls
Ian, there are several sites on the net which claim to measure speed, but I have always found them pessimistic. I was sustaining 400KBps downloads yesterday evening, but I've never been told that by a measurement site.
Here are a couple:
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html
17. Jon Pennycook
To Anonymous from the Midlands:-
That ISP is a company able to offer both cable and ADSL connectivity (not to mention 3G). Their broadband adverts are mostly for cable, with ADSL offered in non-cabled areas. They are actually one of the largest broadband providers - not just with their own customers, but other providers also use them, and unlike many other broadband providers, they do have an infrastructure that exists outside of a data centre in London.