View Full Version : Ofcom wants to ban misleading broadband speed ads
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/51477000/jpg/_51477140_broadbandspeedsbody.jpg
AVERAGE DOWNLOAD SPEEDS
* BT 'up to' 8Mbps - 4.1 to 4.8Mbps
* Orange 'up to' 8Mbps - 3.3 to 4.3Mbps
* Plusnet 'up to' 8Mbps - 3.4 to 4.4Mbps
* Virgin Media 'up to' 10Mbps - 9.5 to 9.7Mbps
* BT 'up to' 20Mbps - 6.9 to 8.7Mbps
* O2/Be 'up to' 20Mbps - 9.9 to 11.6Mbps
* Sky 'up to' 20Mbps - 7.4 to 8.8Mbps
* TalkTalk 'up to' 24Mbps - 7.7 to 9.3Mbps
* Virgin Media 'up to' 20Mbps - 17.4 to 18.6Mbps
* BT 'up to' 40Mbps - 30.5 to 33.1Mbps
* Virgin Media 'up to' 50Mbps - 43.9 to 47.2Mbps
Cable and fibre services fared better, with 92% of Virgin Media customers on an 'up to' 50Mbps service averaging 45.6Mbps.
Ofcom wants to ban misleading broadband speed ads
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12611315
Ofcom is seeking to stop internet service providers from advertising unrealistic broadband speeds.
Currently most ISPs advertise services as 'up to' a certain speed - for instance, 20Mbps (megabits per second).
But Ofcom's latest research finds that very few consumers actually get these headline speeds.
"There is a substantial gap between advertised speeds and the actual speeds people get in their homes," Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards told the BBC.
"The chances of someone receiving the advertised headline speed are fairly remote," he said.
"We would like to see clearer information provided to consumers which more accurately reflects the likely speeds they will actually receive," he added.
Ofcom's latest research into broadband speeds found that just 14% of customers on 'up to' 20Mbps services received speeds of over 12Mbps, while 58% averaged speeds of 6Mbps or less.
Consumer confusion
Cable and fibre services fared better, with 92% of Virgin Media customers on an 'up to' 50Mbps service averaging 45.6Mbps.
Its lower 10Mbps service saw average speeds of 9.6Mbps.
BT's Fibre-to-the-Cabinet technology, which is currently available to 15% of UK homes, has an average of 31.8Mbps on the 40Mbps service.
Unrealistic broadband speeds has long been an issue for consumer groups, who say such advertising is adding to consumer confusion over net services.
"Broadband speeds are a major source of dissatisfaction for UK broadband customers," says Michael Phillips, product director at comparison site Broadbandchoices.
"We have been pushing for 'typical speeds' to be made the gold standard for speed measurement since 2007 - in the same way that banks use 'typical' APR percentages."
The Advertising Standards Authority is looking into the issue.
Ofcom is recommending that ISPs use Typical Speed Rates (TSR) to avoid confusing consumers.
It has set guidelines for these speeds. It recommends that ADSL services currently advertised as 'up to' 20Mbps (megabits per second) be changed to a TSR of between 3 and 9Mbps.
BT is not impressed with Ofcom's idea.
"We have real concerns with their approach. Broadband speeds vary from line to line and so it is meaningless to use one speed for advertising. That is why we use the term 'up to'," said John Petter, managing director of BT Retail.
He said he thought such a policy "would encourage digital exclusion rather than tackle it".
"Enforcing typical speed ranges is also dangerous as it could encourage more ISPs to cherry pick customers who will increase their average, leaving customers in rural and suburban areas under-served," he said.
PlusNet defended its current advertising.
"We offer customers a personalised speed range.
"This is confirmed at application and then again once a customer has had their broadband service fully installed - we are completely honest with customers about the speeds they will receive," said chief executive Jamie Ford.
Virgin Media, which fared the best in the speed tests, welcomed the news: "Ofcom's latest report is yet another damning indictment that consumers continue to be treated like mugs and misled by ISPs that simply cannot deliver on their advertised speed claims," said Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media.
Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband website ThinkBroadband, said using average speeds could encourage mediocrity.
"Providers who now go all out to get the best speeds could give up and make do with the average," he said.
He added that there was "no such thing as an average" because the speed of a connection depends on so many factors, including home wiring, the applications being used and where in the UK people live.
Yeah right, cos that worked so well with "unlimited" :rolleyes: :P I really wish Ofcom had more clout, and more balls to start really kicking some of these companies and their frankly underhand tactics
i think anyone foolish enough to think they'd get the full up-to speed should not be online, they simply don't understand the internet.
advertise "up to 20 Mbps" is fine, but all ISP should provide an speed estimator so consumers can know for sure what speed they will get before buying. there's difference between advertise and actual speed to one household.
"unlimited" broadband, now that's a problem needs addressed.
Virgin Media spearheaded this campaign to ofcom late last year as they felt they were the ones thriving to improve the speeds and service
callumburns
02-03-11, 09:21
but what will it take for them to stop misleading customers so much that when my gran (who i live with for now) got a letter through saying that she was being upgraded to AOL Platinum because she had been with them for about 5 years or something and it stated in the letter that he would be upgraded to 20Mbps speeds but all the connection seems to get is about 9.5-11Mbps when i checked it with speed checker.
Mr. Strawberry
02-03-11, 09:45
well it is about time
though i want the 20Mbps my parents are paying for not the adverts changing tbh
Can see why they do it though. Say this comes into effect, so now you have speeds from 2Mbps to 20Mbps. Does that mean if you get only 2Mbps you pay less than person who gets 3Mbps or 4 or 5 or 6 or 20. With the upto 20Mbps they can get people who are on less speeds paying same as those on those closer to stated figure. If they have to give actual real speeds can see alot of complaints for amount people have pay for these lower speeds ;)
but what will it take for them to stop misleading customers so much that when my gran (who i live with for now) got a letter through saying that she was being upgraded to AOL Platinum because she had been with them for about 5 years or something and it stated in the letter that he would be upgraded to 20Mbps speeds but all the connection seems to get is about 9.5-11Mbps when i checked it with speed checker.
The arguement they would use is that you arent testing it with an official dedicated server so other factors play into the speed such as amount of other people testing at the same time, available bandwidth, windows settings etc.
this is something that needs fixing as does the "unlimited" access stuff.
Hmmm, story close to my heart....Was sold upto 20Mbs by Virgin when moving house last year. Moved from a cable area where we were getting 18Mbs...rang virgin told em we were moving and needed to cancel, they said "Oh no dont cancel, we'll move with you, and you can get exactly the same services".
So we took em on, that was last March. Ever since, this is what we've been getting :(
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1180857182.png
They blame BT equipment, BT blame the exchange, blah blah, basicly its tuff, this is the best we can get :mad:
Hmmm, story close to my heart....Was sold upto 20Mbs by Virgin when moving house last year. Moved from a cable area where we were getting 18Mbs...rang virgin told em we were moving and needed to cancel, they said "Oh no dont cancel, we'll move with you, and you can get exactly the same services".
So we took em on, that was last March. Ever since, this is what we've been getting :(
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1180857182.png
They blame BT equipment, BT blame the exchange, blah blah, basicly its tuff, this is the best we can get :mad:
Oooh - that's bad :(
At least we're showing above average for our provider, although we're less than 50% of our "headline" speed. On SkyPlus, Up to 20Mbs, and getting 9.02 Mpbs.
My internet connection is rated as "upto" 25Mbps, and we get about a 1/3 of that (this is on a business package as well, where you'd sort of expect them to provide the infrastructure for higher speed connections.
Hmmm, story close to my heart....Was sold upto 20Mbs by Virgin when moving house last year. Moved from a cable area where we were getting 18Mbs...rang virgin told em we were moving and needed to cancel, they said "Oh no dont cancel, we'll move with you, and you can get exactly the same services".
So we took em on, that was last March. Ever since, this is what we've been getting :(
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1180857182.png
They blame BT equipment, BT blame the exchange, blah blah, basicly its tuff, this is the best we can get :mad:
We're also on VM ADSL.. What speed do you sync to the exchange at? We sync at 7.6mb, but we normally get anywhere between 0.4 - 3mb if we're lucky - according to speedtest. Thats not to mention the daily internet drop outs that we get which last anywhere between 15mins and 2 hours and can happen at any point during the day.
When we were with BT before that, we would sync at the same speed (7.6mb) and we would get about 7.3mb on speedtest every time.
Customer Services have been less than helpful about it as they seem to know less than me about how the internet works, but I'm currently going through the process again to see if I can finally get it sorted.
Broadsword1976
02-03-11, 12:42
This was all over breakie TV and it's totally out of order, my BT line, which has never provided more than 5Mbs is a tether I would happily be rid of but there's no Virgin coverage in my area :( - I was told by a Virgin engineer that in a lot of cases BT own the rights to say whether or not certain roads can be dug up for new cabling - but he might have been BSing me.
Not sure about sync with exchange :confused: how do i find out?
Not too worried anyhow, as BT Infinity will be here in next few weeks, BT Openreach been at the end of my road every day now for past 3 weeks installing new Cab, they said it will be up and running by end of March.
Signed up with BT, changing to them 8th March, then phone em when Infinity available :D
Added after 5 minutes:
I was told by a Virgin engineer that in a lot of cases BT own the rights to say whether or not certain roads can be dug up for new cabling - but he might have been BSing me.
According to a "Big boss" @ virgin media HQ London, they wont be laying any new cable lines anywhere now, they simply bought "cable" from NTL who in turn bought "cable" from Cable and wireless.
So if you dont have cable in your area, like me, then you rely on BT equipment to get your internet, it doesnt matter what ISP you go with, they all use BT lines.
If you have a netgear router which VM sends out as standard, it should tell you if you log into the router and on the first page that comes up (router status), it should tell you there :)
iGoD ReLeNtLeS
02-03-11, 13:02
According to a "Big boss" @ virgin media HQ London, they wont be laying any new cable lines anywhere now, they simply bought "cable" from NTL who in turn bought "cable" from Cable and wireless.
Yeh i would put money on that is the way it is... Mind you doubt there is much point in laying new cable as i believe the Coaxial (what runs from the cabinet to the house) can only deal with 300Mb/s max, so i'd say it only has another year or so of life (hopefully, probably will if BT start upping their speeds pushing VM).
Big question is, what will they do after that? Fibre to the Premises? i hope so :lol: then maybe we can catch up to the rest of europe and asia :D
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/02/ofcom_broadband_speeds_report/
"Virgin Media's executive director of broadband Jon James used the figures to call on his firm's rivals to respond to the code.
"Ofcom's latest report is yet another damning indictment that consumers continue to be treated like mugs and misled by ISPs that simply cannot deliver on their advertised speed claims," he said.
“The ASA has already highlighted the critical need for change and today's report provides another clear mandate to stop advertising ‘up to’ speeds that nobody can actually receive."
James said VM supported Ofcom's desire to get ISPs to publish their typical read world speeds."
michaelkenward
02-03-11, 14:39
BROADBANDCHOICES.CO.UK COMMENTS ON TODAY’S OFCOM BROADBAND SPEED REPORT (http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=63079)
Among other quotes:
"The continued roll out of BT Infinity (http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/bt-infinity-fibre-optic-broadband.html) should give consumers a viable alternative to Virgin Media when it comes to super-fast broadband packages that can actually live up to the advertised messages - Virgin Media's fibre optic service continues to fare well in this respect."How will any ads deal with the variability of connection speeds?
I run regular speed tests on a variety of sites. I get between 1.5 and 5.5 Mb/s depending on the time of day and the phases of the Moon.
Dare say they would have to reword the adverts to "speeds starting from" as opposed to "speeds up to" ?
I'd imagine it would be changed to "an average connection speed of....". Which could be good actually, as it would encourage ISPs to improve their service as much as is physically possible.
If they advertised "Starting from....", then everyone would be back to advertising 256k connections :lol:
iGoD ReLeNtLeS
02-03-11, 15:48
Trouble is they would still need to provide a maximum speed with that as well, so could they just use it, "a maximum off..."
they ought to ban giant red prices with a teeny tiny inc vat on the end
We are on sky unlimited at home im happy with the download just not the upload.. although it could be worse..
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1181505696.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
at work we use virgin 50mb.. much beter imo lol
Mr. Strawberry
02-03-11, 18:54
i am on BT unlimited 20mb
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1181513441.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
download speed is a joke tbh
beefwellington
02-03-11, 18:54
Hmmm, story close to my heart....Was sold upto 20Mbs by Virgin when moving house last year. Moved from a cable area where we were getting 18Mbs...rang virgin told em we were moving and needed to cancel, they said "Oh no dont cancel, we'll move with you, and you can get exactly the same services".
So we took em on, that was last March. Ever since, this is what we've been getting :(
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1180857182.png
They blame BT equipment, BT blame the exchange, blah blah, basicly its tuff, this is the best we can get :mad:
A CHALLENGER APPEARS:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1181509681.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
I'm lodging atm so I have no control over the internet here :(
A CHALLENGER APPEARS:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1181509681.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
I'm lodging atm so I have no control over the internet here :(
What is this? 2001? :D
ArthurHucksake
04-03-11, 13:37
I am ok with the "upto" advertising, because it does actually say "upto". The unlimited thing really annoys me, because it's a blatant lie.
We are on sky unlimited at home im happy with the download just not the upload.. although it could be worse..
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1181505696.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
at work we use virgin 50mb.. much beter imo lol
You can ring Sky and ask them to see about changing your upload speed you know?
Added after 2 minutes:
I am ok with the "upto" advertising, because it does actually say "upto". The unlimited thing really annoys me, because it's a blatant lie.
You do know that when companys call their broadband Unlimited, its its to do with the download usage and not the speed??
Added after 9 minutes:
Also I find http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php the best site to use to see what exchange your on, how far away from it you are and what speeds you should be getting :)
Also I see you are all using speedtester.net to run your speed tests, is there any reason for this?
Simple fact is that the ISP's can't control your distance from the exchange, nor the quality of the cabling. They should advertise based on an average speed and this is now going to be happening. Not surprised virgin kicked off as they are the only ones who can get anywhere near the service they sell to their customers in most cases.
At least once a year we see headlines about how we are being ripped off when it comes to broadband services. And it has been going on for as long as I can remember, but nothing changes other than Virgin media.
Apparently in countries like China particularly Hong Kong. TV and data services are free. And they get ridiculous speeds. Someday!
i think anyone foolish enough to think they'd get the full up-to speed should not be online, they simply don't understand the internet.
advertise "up to 20 Mbps" is fine, but all ISP should provide an speed estimator so consumers can know for sure what speed they will get before buying. there's difference between advertise and actual speed to one household.
"unlimited" broadband, now that's a problem needs addressed.
O you would be surprise how many people actually think they will get the advertised speed....
when i was at my previous job at a ISP we would get customers calling in DEMANDING that they get their 24meg while their line length is more than 3.5miles away....from the exchange with attenuation is in the fifties.
i use to have fun with them as i said if you read your contract it stated up to 24meg.....that would p*ss them off even more....LOL LOL
ArthurHucksake
04-03-11, 20:22
You can ring Sky and ask them to see about changing your upload speed you know?
Added after 2 minutes:
You do know that when companys call their broadband Unlimited, its its to do with the download usage and not the speed??
Added after 9 minutes:
Also I find http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php the best site to use to see what exchange your on, how far away from it you are and what speeds you should be getting :)
Also I see you are all using speedtester.net to run your speed tests, is there any reason for this?
Yeah, I am talking about the FUP nonsense. Advertise an "unlimited" package and then throttle you (or worse) after 200GB-300GB of use. So effectively, they are telling porkies.
You buy a new machine and need to get your Steam library back, your SOL.
Best ISP I have ever been with is Be. They say Unlimited and mean it. They offered a speed prediction when I signed up and was lucky to get more, sync at 23MBit down / 1.3MBit up and i've done over 1TB in a month before. They don't care, they invest in their network.
ArthurHucksake
05-03-11, 13:13
BT have just informed me that Infinity now has a FUP of 600GB a month. SOLD!
that's actually tempting ... only stayed with o2 because my old package I'd actually unlimited.
I swear it was the Gadget Show who started all this.
Lorem-Ipsum
05-03-11, 22:26
AOL 8Mb/s - 6.4Mb/s average for me.
that's actually tempting ... only stayed with o2 because my old package I'd actually unlimited.
same here am still only with o2 as a can download as much as i want without concern.
Mr. Strawberry
07-03-11, 23:20
tbh i dont mind them advertising "upto 20Mb" broadband if people like me and 99% of the country only get charged based on what our download speed is
ArthurHucksake
09-03-11, 15:05
I'm going to miss Be. Really am. New house is so far away from the exchange, only ISP with decent speeds is BT Infinity. 31MB down, others have quoted alot less. On 23Mbit down atm but I can pretty much see the exchange from the end of the my street.
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