Hard though it may be to believe, it seems those mischievous broadband operators have been misleading us: according to a new report from communications regulator Ofcom, an impressive 97% of broadband customers aren’t getting the speeds advertised by their provider. The main issue seems to be the wording of ads – operators say they can supply ‘up to’ 20 Megabits per second, when in fact most of the UK’s infrastructure isn’t actually equipped to take anything like those sorts of speeds. So whose fault is it?

It's true that the UK’s digital infrastructure is creaking under an increasingly large burden. The proportion of broadband-connected homes in the UK, according to the report, has grown to 65%, with 24% signing up to a service of 10Mbps or more - compared to just 8% in 2009. Still, last year, the average home broadband speed was 4.1Mbps, compared to an average advertised speed of 7.1Mbps - a fairly significant disparity. Admittedly, average speeds have increased this year to about 5.2Mbps, but then again, so has the advertised figure - to 11.5Mbps.
 
To be fair to the providers, it's not all their fault. Ofcom chief Ed Richards says anything could cause delays to the speeds customers are getting, from the purity of the wire to your distance from the telephone exchange or even interference on the line. Providers have to include that ‘up to’ caveat, says Richards, because broadband simply isn’t a ‘homogenous product’. ‘It’s complicated, more complicated than anyone imagined’. And we're slightly sceptical that anyone still expects to get those headline figures these days anyway.
 
One of the major obstacles to speed at the moment is the UK’s ageing infrastructure. Most ISPs supply their service through BT’s Openreach network, which is predominantly made up of copper wiring. The future, says Ofcom, is cable broadband, which some companies (namely Virgin Media) have already adopted – but for the rest, replacing all that wiring is going to take quite a bit of time. It's no coincidence that Virgin Media was the only company to deliver ‘speeds close to those advertised’ (whereas the likes of BT came up short).

 

For now, Ofcom hopes to combat the issue by encouraging ISPs to sign up to a voluntary code of practice that (amongst other things) means customers will be told before they buy a package what sort of speeds their lines can actually take, rather than what sort of speeds the provider can deliver. It’s also trying to persuade them to take the emphasis off speed, focusing instead on the quality of the line (which will make video streaming and online gaming easier).  
 
But as it replaces the copper wiring, the Government will no doubt begin where the businesses are, in the cities – which could leave some rural communities feeling a bit left behind. And what’s the good of a brand new combine harvester if you can’t post pictures of it on Facebook?

In today's bulletin:
Hayward out, Dudley in as BP plummets to record loss
Ofcom slams ISPs for misleading advertising
Halfords sales head downhill - but profits remain on track
Editor's blog: The lessons of Tony Hayward
Scardino hints at an exit as Pearson announces record profits

blog comments powered by Disqus