Broadband speeds scrutinised (again)

Another week, another squeeze in the already strained relations between Ofcom and the internet service providers (ISPs) about how the latter advertise their broadband packages.

In short, the regulator wants ISPs to come clean about the kinds of speeds customers can expect from their broadband connection, given that in many cases 'super-fast' connections of 8MB/s end up only delivering speeds half that, if not slower.

The ISPs say they do their best to be transparent - by advertising speeds of 'up to' a certain amount, rather than giving a guarantee - but that it's difficult to be exact because the speed afforded by a particular connection depended on many factors, including the distance from the home to the local exchange and the network load.

Which?, the consumer body, meanwhile, periodically issues reports concluding that actual speeds to not measure up to those advertised. The latest was in August last year, which found that the average speed experienced by customers with an '8MB/s' connection was in fact 2.7MB/s. Only 30 per cent of customers were satisfied with their ISP, the Which? report suggested.

Today BT Wholesale - which sells a 'white label' product to other broadband providers, such as Virgin - weighed into the debate, saying that the industry needed to "join together with Ofcom" to agree "a set of principles" about how advertising messages "should be communicated".

In truth, it wasn't a great change from what voices in the telecommunications industry - among them the Broadband Stakeholder Group - have said already, which is that it is "reasonable" for customers to expect that an internet connection "does what it says on the tin", but that this wasn't an "easy" promise to deliver on, given the technology involved.

BT's comments did, however, focus attention on the Ofcom's forthcoming report - which is expected next month - on how the problem should be resolved.

In an interview with Times Online, Ofcom gave the clearest indication yet that it would introduce an obligation on ISPs to offer what is known called a 'line speed check' at the point of sale, meaning that before signing up to a contract a customer would know what kind of speed they could expect.

"We're looking at the process of what people are told directly before they sign up to a package," an Ofcom spokesperson said. "Ideally, a consumer would find out then what their likely speed would be. Some providers may do that already, but it's not an across-the-board practice."

The regulator has previously called for ISPs to allow customers to test out connections before they commit to long contracts - so called "try before you buy" broadband.

If that is the recommendation in the Ofcom's report, it won't change much, though. The vast majority of ISPs already offer such as service before a customer signs up.

Of the five largest ISPs contacted by Times Online today, four - BT, Virgin, Carphone Warehouse, and Orange - all said they offered 'line checks' prior to a customer committing to a contract. Tiscali was not immediately available for comment.

"The reality is, there's a range of factors that can influence speeds, such as distance to the local exchange and network congestion, and we need to reconcile the way we're marketing packages with what customers actually experience," a BT spokesperson said.

For the moment, it seems, the ISPs will have a reprieve. Ofcom's recommendation - assuming it is for compulsory line checks - will not be particularly onerous, nor will it change much what ISPs are already doing.

Customers will, in other words, have to continue wrestling with actual speeds far below those that are advertised - something they are painfully becoming used to.

Comments

[peter Phipp]

It is not the actual connection speed that causes problems it is often too many people using the same circuits at the same time. At 4pm every weekday TalkTalk in west london regularly fails when the children all come home from school and switch on.

[Waqar Shah]

I live in Ipswich, a small town in Suffolk. I have 18 months contract with Orange (8mbps broadband). I check my broadband speed once or twice a week using this link (http://speedcheck.ispconnect.co.uk/). Most of the time I get around 1.5mbps or maximum would be 3mbps (if I am lucky), regardless of time i.e. peak/off peak doesn't matter. I am not getting what Orange promises. Telephone exchange is not very far from me, so no line excuse. We are living with their lie.

[Jo]

I can see the exchange from my house! I could hit it with peanut lobbed from my window. It makes little difference. I agree that the time of day makes little difference either. And if it did, providers should inform us of the variability pre-purchase.

I was told by own youngsters that connections get stale and to switch on and off. I can't say that it helps.

The answer might be to yank their licenses and put the services out to international tender.

And the meantime, who would have the competence to help me make a mashup of the connection speeds at different times of the day across the country?

[Bryan Milham]

I live on a 12 year old estate. The nearest exchange is about 1 1/2 miles away. The best I can expect is 0.5 Mb speed.

All ISPs wanted to sell me 8Mb option, I had to shop around to get a 2Mb ISP, even then the best I normally manage is 50kb - 60kb, sometimes only 30kb.

[Richard Downes]

Sitting right on top the telephone exchange is no guarantee of speed.

The quality of the metal in the loop in this instance could be a major factor. Corrosion, poor patching, signal bleed and line length all have their part to play when you push radio frequencies across a wire.

Internet speeds will be improved when the incumbent [BT] improves the last mile by installing fibre end to end. Unfortunately, this is something that they will not do unless forced as it will be a very costly affair.

[steve]

The ISP's don't care about the speed issue. I mean WHO is really going to do anything??

This is England, and there is no recourse for the consumer but to jump from one fraudulent contract to another.

International Satellite Based ISP competition 'might' help but a backhander to Whitehall would stop anything like that from going through. Case in point, how much Satellite competition does sky face in the Satellite market?

I am stuck paying for a 16MB connection in order to reliably get a 5MB connection, and not even consistently as it often 'accidentally' gets bumped down.

[lgevans]

BT are the worst offenders! I was promised 4MB at point of sale by a telephone representative. This turned out to be 54kb when it was delivered.
BT tried to charge me the 18 month contract period subscription and an admin charge to cancel.
ONLY with the help of Consumer Direct and The Office of Fair Trading was this resolved with no financial penalty to myself.
"Up to 8mb"... I wonder if performace can manufacturers could get away with replacing their engines with lawn mower engines whilst promising "up to 200mph"...
There needs to be a significant re-think and penalties to companies using such unfair advertising tactics!

[Ben Jones]

Just to let you be aware, ISPs quote their bandwidths in Megabits per second (Mbps), whereas your computer tends calculates in Megabytes per second (MBps) when downloading something. A byte is 8 bits, and as such your computer will show 1/8th of the speed being delivered to you, simply because they are two different measurements. Even when this is taken into account, it usually still means your ISP is delivering you a rubbish service, but it isn't quite as bad as it may seem at first glance. In other words, with an 8Mbps connection, your computer *should* (it'll never happen by the way) state it has a 1024KBps connection, or a 1MBps connection for a download.

Personally I don't care too much, given that I get a 30-50 Mbps connection thanks to living in University accommodation! The connection is so fast that very few download servers can actually deliver the speeds that the line is capable of, I very rarely get to use it to its full potential. However it does go to show that Ultra High Speed Broadband is NOT impossible, it already exists in every city that has a University afterall.

[Michael]

As an ISP owner myself there is more to it than what has been written here. I offer 5Meg connections to my customers and every connection really is 5meg of band width. However, there is no true way of to verify this because once you leave my network such as a speed tester you now are on a shared network called the internet. Routers have limits, transport has limits, the server that you access for a speed test has a limit. See you can do a speed test to a server with 10Meg of internet but if 1,000's of people are accessing that server then it may show you at 100k.

So the only true speed you really test is from your CPE (Customer premis equipment) to your ISP. Once the ISP hands you off to the back bone providers your speed can vary greatly.

[mo]

bt are the worst broadband providers out there. they have the worst speeds and the customer service is poor. it takes atleast 20 mins for someone to answer my call.

[pursebearer]

Get real. If you really want 8Mbps all the time and every time then simply order an uncontended connection. It'll cost several hundred pounds per month though.

[Paul]

Yet again we see the culture of complaining from the ignorant masses. As an IT expert having seen the computer and internet use move from the academic to the mainstream, the level of knowledge and understanding hasn’t been transferred. It is this ignorance that drives the complaints. The ISPs and to some extent the hardware manufacturers need to move to educate the masses to understand that an ‘up to 8mbit’ connection speed a) Doesn’t mean they’ll be able to access every web page at 8mbit/second even though the computer might report a fast connection and B) 8mbit does not equal 8megabytes.

You can't drive a car without a licence how about some kind of mandatory test use a computer?

[Pissed Off]

I understand that speeds advertised are no where near what they are actually. I was told I would have a 768 kb/s connection from my isp. They actually were only giving us 182 kb/s. I measured my throughput in my line with multiple throughput tools and was measured on average at 30 kb/s. After running multiple traceroutes I found that the switch on their end that was routing me could not handle the load on it.

So I explained to my ISP that during peak hours when being routed by them to the internet was where I was seeing 1000ms response times on average.

So I have been paying almost $50 a month for an internet connection that is maybe 6 times faster than dial up on average.

This company keeps promising bandwidth increases since Jan. 2008 and is now March 2008 but no increase.

[PCLFW]

@pursebearer - I suggest that you get real. I want what the ISP's advertise and what I pay for. How would my ISP like it if I offered to pay 'up to' £30 per month for my connection and then gave them £2:50 each month.

@PAUL - I too am an IT 'expert' having earned my bread & butter from this field for 20 years, and this is my second career. Your comment shows the arrogance of youth. Please tell me do you fully understand the way that the stresses are handled in your car or bike during your daily commute? Do you fully understand the principles behind the agronomy which grows your daily bread? Do you full understand the complex chemical interactions which make your morning coffee taste so good? I expect the answer to al three questions is no. That is because you do not need to. There are experts to do that for you. The ISP's need to make the information that they present to customers understandable, unambiguous and true. You need to grow up a little.

[Oliver Chettle]

Paul's attitude is totally ridiculous. Technical products should be sold as honestly as non-technical products. The ISPs should be forced to err on the side of caution in their claims.