Ofcom Slams ISPs For Misleading Broadband Speeds

Regulator Ofcom played good cop and bad cop with ISPs in its latest investigation of broadband speeds and pricing in the UK.

In its latest delve into the state of the nation’s broadband provision, the regulator praised infrastructure providers for a 25 percent increase in the speed of the average actual fixed-line residential connection. The average connection was advertised to have a speed of up to 10Mbps in May 2010, compared to 8 percent in April 2009.

But Ofcom also admonished the same providers for continuing to advertise speeds which consumers were not able to receive. Specifically, Ofcom revealed that, while the average speed had gone up, the percentage of the advertised speed that was being achieved had actually fallen from 58 percent in 2009 to 45 percent in 2010. The speeds being achieved were greater overall but the discrepancy between what providers were saying they could achieve and what consumers were being delivered had got worse.

“If consumers pay for a Ferrari-style Internet service, they should not get push bike speeds,” said Robert Hammond, head of post and digital communications at Consumer Focus, responding to Ofcom’s research. “Broadband users should get what they pay for. The Advertising Standards Authority should take a tough approach to broadband providers who promise speeds they don’t deliver.”

Inefficient Copper

The root-cause of the problem – aside from the commercial ambitions of the providers – is that copper is inherently inefficient when it comes to delivering data, the regulator said. “Differences between headline and actual speeds are often caused by broadband being delivered over copper lines which were originally designed for phone calls; hence speeds slow down over long and poor quality lines, and because of electrical interference,” the organisation said in a statement.

Broadband provider Virgin Media – which has deployed large amounts of fibre infrastructure – was singled out for praise by the regulator for delivering closely on its advertised speeds. “Virgin Media’s ‘up to’ 10Mbps and ‘up to’ 20Mbps cable services delivered average download speeds around twice as fast as DSL packages with the same or similar headline speed,” Ofcom stated.

Ofcom’s chief executive Ed Richards said there was scope for improvement, despite the overall increase in speed. “Actual speeds are often much lower than many of the advertised speeds which makes it essential that consumers are given information which is as accurate as possible at the point of sale; this is what the new Code is designed to deliver,” he said. “We are delighted that all major ISPs have signed up, which is a major step forward.”

Ofcom said it has tightened up the voluntary code of practice introduced in 2008 to push providers to give consumers a more accurate and consistent estimate of the maximum speed they could hope to receive from their connection. The regulator said it is also committed to helping customers leave contracts early if they are not happy with the speed of the service they are signed up to.

Typical Speed Range Of…

The regulator added that is working with Advertising Standards Authority on a review of how providers should word any ads for their broadband services. Ofcom has suggested the replacement of the rather ambiguous “up to speeds of” with “a typical speed range of”, which it believes is a more useful measure.

Copper is not only under attack from the regulator but from thieves, BT said earlier this week. Theft of copper from phone networks has grown by 9 percent over the last two weeks the telecom giant revealed.