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PcTed
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 277
Location: Warwickshire
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 Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:31 pm Post subject: Britons misled over broadband speeds |
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Britons misled over broadband speeds
http://money.guardian.co.uk/news_/story/0,,2140178,00.html
| The Guardian wrote: |
There is a huge gap between the broadband speeds providers are advertising and those that users are able to achieve at home, research by Which? showed today.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has previously said it is acceptable for broadband providers to use the words "up to" in their adverts, as long as most customers can get close to the advertised speeds.
However, Which? claims that while many companies advertise speeds of up to 8Mbps (megabits per second) or faster, consumers are achieving an average speed of just 2.7Mbps, while some have experienced speeds as low as 0.09Mbps.
The consumer group is calling on Ofcom and Trading Standards to investigate providers' claims, which it says are misleading consumers.
"It is shocking that internet service providers can advertise ever-increasing speeds that seem to bear little resemblance to what most people can achieve in reality," said Malcolm Coles, editor of which.co.uk.
"If it is 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."
There are many factors that affect the speed of a consumer's broadband, including how far they live from the telephone exchange and how many people are sharing the same connection to the exchange.
Speeds can also vary throughout the day, depending on how many other users are online.
The ASA has taken action against companies that have been found to advertise much faster speeds than are achievable by most customers.
Earlier this year, the ASA ruled that Be Unlimited had breached its codes on truthfulness and substantiation when it advertised broadband at speeds up to 24Mbps, which were unachievable for most consumers.
Last September, Bulldog was forced to withdraw adverts for broadband speeds of up to 8Mbps after a similar ruling by the ASA.
A spokeswoman for Ofcom said the regulator was working with the ASA to make sure advertising did not mislead consumers.
She said there were rules in place to ensure adverts made it clear that the advertised speeds were the maximum available, but that the situation was being monitored.
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Sam
Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 18
Location: Warks, UK
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Paul@BCF
Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Posts: 25
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:57 am Post subject: |
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My home cable connection should offer upto 20meg but last night according to http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/ was crawling along at 1.5meg.
Trouble is, as long as they say 'up to' 20meg they are not misdescribing the service.
In fairness I have had much better speeds in the past but they are not at all consistant or reliable.
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Paul Driver
Organiser @ British Computer Fairs
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FoxInc
Joined: 28 Sep 2008
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:09 am Post subject: |
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My connection speed is quite consistent and i usually get a really good speed just depends what time of day i am on line just done a test and here are the results. 
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