Ofcom has published the initial findings of its research into the real speeds UK consumers are getting from their broadband connections.
According to a preliminary version of the telecommunications regulator's UK Broadband Speeds 2008 report, published on Thursday, the average downlink speed is 3.6Mbps. That represents around half the average speed of 7.2Mbps promised by ISPs. Even the average maximum line speed, which is the speed a broadband connection could achieve in ideal conditions, is just 4.3Mbps.
Ofcom intends to use the final results of the study, due for publication in the spring, as the basis for policy adjustments. That final version of the report will provide a further breakdown of results, including an comparison of performance by provider.
In December, the regulator convinced a majority of UK ISPs to sign up to a voluntary code of practice that commits them to being honest about the real speeds their customers will get.
"We want to see all Internet Service Providers meet the needs of their customers by clearly explaining what speeds they should expect and by ensuring that their networks meet consumers' increasing demand for higher-speed broadband," Ofcom's chief executive, Ed Richards, said in a statement on Thursday.
"We have already seen the first steps towards next-generation super-fast broadband in the UK, and we expect further developments this year. Ofcom will publish the next steps for the regulatory framework early this year."
The initial findings of Ofcom's report indicate that people promised a maximum speed of 8Mbps are getting, on average, only 3.6Mbps. One in five of them are seeing an average speed of less than 2Mbps.
Over 30 days in October and November 2008, Ofcom ran around 7,000 tests through monitoring devices that were connected to routers in 1,500 homes. That resulted in more than 10 million separate tests of broadband services, the regulator said.
According to Ofcom, 93 percent of people surveyed were happy with their overall web-browsing experience, but that figure dropped to 67 percent when it came to the use of more bandwidth-intensive applications such as internet TV.
Dissatisfaction with broadband quality was higher among rural users (14 percent) than urban users (eight percent). The study also found that the slowest web-surfing time is between 5pm and 6pm on Sundays, when web-usage levels are at their highest.
James Parker, the broadband manager at moneysupermarket.com, said in a statement on Thursday that Ofcom's findings showed "how little consumers get for their money".
"Although prices for broadband are falling rapidly, the speed [at] which providers are moving to help consumers get a better deal is slowing," Parker said. "The voluntary code may mean customers are advised of what speed they get before purchasing a new deal, but it does nothing to help consumers get the actual speed they pay for."
Talkback
My ISP is DEMON INTERNET. I try to run two business from home with possibly the most pathetically slow broadband speed in the UK, which tonight averages around 97KBPS - not bad by the usual standards.
I blame DEMON (my ISP), DEMON blames TALK TALK (my phone network) and TALK TALK blame BT (who are supposed to look after the lines).
So with three grossly inefficient organizations each blaming the other, although refusing to talk to each other, I get nowhere. The problem's been around for about 8 years now....when I fist signed up for broadband.
Still, you have to give them some credit. They managed to con me and thousands like me, I suspect. Broadband, as far as I'm concerned, is as big a con as sub-prime lending and all that jazz!
I would assume from your stated speed that you are 'out in the boonies'. I am prepared to be corrected on this.
I have heard from many FSB members who are, like you, trying to run their businesses but the broadband is a major failure point with poor speeds experienced by the purchaser.
I am lucky to live in a cabled area and the speed touted is 20Mb, with a promised 50Mb sometime soon. Yet, these speeds are almost irrelevent as they are really based on the connection speed from me to the head-end connection of my ISP, the speed of the rest of the internet is nothing like the speed offered by my ISP.
So, ISP's seem to be as popular as politicians with the majority of them not providing what they say they will. Yet, there is an interesting back story here. There are apparently miles and miles of 'dark fibre' this is fibre-optic cable that has been laid but not 'lit' or made active. Dark Fibre comes from telco's who built excess capacity into their networks because of the original costs involves of laying the cable in the first place. Most of this was done around the dotcom boom.
The question is if all this dark fibre exists, and customers are experiencing poor quality service, why not light the dark fibre and increase the available bandwidth so that people might actually get what they are paying for?
What a wonderful expression - 'out in the boonies' - I've never heard it before, but I knew exactly what you meant! Yes indeed, for our sins, we do live out in the boonies, which is wonderful most of the time.
However, I see no reason whatever if I am paying exactly the same sort of tariff for my broadband as all the urban population, why I shouldn't enjoy the same service. We live in a 'United' Kingdom, which should mean there should be parity for basic services like broadband. We have no gas, no mains water and no mains drainage, but neither do we pay for these. But we DO pay for broadband and telephone which have been chronically ill all time we have been here - 28 years!
I look forward to hearing more about the mysterious dark fibre cable....
It's because the links are actually in use. They run 'black light', harvested by probes launched in the 1960s to the nearest quantum singularity and used by DARPA, the American military high-tech agency. Being black light, it's completely immune to all attempts at interception, so the DARPA tech-heads can share all their secrets in... well, secrecy. Just don't tell anyone.