MSE News: Broadband 'half advertised speed'

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Regulator Ofcom is pushing for new rules to ensure consumers are not misled by false promises from internet providers ..."

Read the full story:
Broadband 'half advertised speed'

SurfBowlSC

Not really anything we didn't already know.
I have the Sky Maximum package, which is 20Mbs I think, but I do speed checks the average is about 7Mbs.

However, I knew this would be the case right from the start as your speed is very much dependent on how close you live to the telephone exchange. If you live next door to it you'll get the maximum, but if, as I do, you live 2 miles away you will get it slower.

If there was an option for me to switch to a fibre-optic provider then I would take it, but we have no cable provider whatsoever and BT haven't upgraded in our area.

Also, people need to realise that the processor speed of their computer will also have an impact. It's no good having BT's 100Mbs broadband if you have an old computer as it will take a while to process everything.

lucylucky

Not like telecoms companies to mislead people. I mean no-one would ever advertise something as "Unlimited" and not mean it.

Would they?;)

kwikbreaks

The ISPs have no control over the laws of physics so they can't alter the speed you sync at. Furthermore the sync speed delivered has little impact on their costs which are fixed BT charges plus capacity usage based (rather than speed).

They do have control over their available bandwidth though and that can slow down even the fastest lines.

This hoo-haa must bring joy to VM who are the only ISP able to guarantee a sync rate but they sure as hell can and do fall down on speed delivery in areas where they have oversold their product without upgrading the network.

As mentioned above though the biggest sin is the "unlimited" BS. I read that the ASA will be looking into that too.

SurfBowlSC

Thought I would just check what other broadband services are available to me.
BT can only offer me a 6Mb package for £28 per month (with calls) and they have no plans to roll out Infinity in my area.
Virgin have no cable connection where I am, but they do make it clear what's available:

"We’ll always give you the fastest broadband speed we can. You can get from 0.5Mb to as fast as 18Mb, depending on how far you live from the telephone exchange. Don’t forget, at Virgin Media, we’ll always tell you the speed we can give you (to the nearest 1Mb) – before you buy your broadband from us.
Unlike other providers, we won’t promise you an ‘up to’ speed that you can’t get."

Considering my Sky package gives me better speeds than both BT & Virgin, and that they do so for less than half the price of them (we pay £12.50 for Broadband and calls), with true "Unlimited" usage (no fair usage policy), I see no reason to change.

It does go to explain why Sky won't offer us any discounts though, as they will be well aware that they are either the cheapest or only option available to us.

AdamBrunt

I agree with SurfBowlSC ...

This is not exactly news to most people who understand how broadband works.

And whilst I have Sky Unlimited "up to 20Mbs" service when in reality I rarely get above 7Mb, I am paying mainly for the truly "unlimited" part.

moonrakerz

kwikbreaks wrote: »

The ISPs have no control over the laws of physics so they can't alter the speed you sync at.

Spot on ! I do have some sympathy with the ISPs on this one.
If you live next door to the exchange you will get close to 20mbs (or whatever), a mile down the road you will get 10mbs, 3 miles away you will be very lucky to get 1mbs.
1. How do the ISPs advertise this to people living a mile apart ? They do actually try and give some idea of the speed each customer can reasonably expect.
2. As usual, shoddy reporting by the Beeb doesn't help "people are getting less than half the speed that they were promised" - which ISP actually promises a download speed ?? Come on Beeb - we should be told !!!

GunJack

What is the point of an ISP advertising it's customer's average speed, unless it also tells you what it's customer's average downstream attenuation is as well ?!?!?!?!?!?

It really pees me off when they try and dumb-down the technical side of broadband, just to make sure that poor old george doesn't think he's being ripped off by only getting 6 meg on an up-to 24 meg service, even though his line attenuation is 49dB :mad:

nzseries1

lucylucky wrote: »

Not like telecoms companies to mislead people. I mean no-one would ever advertise something as "Unlimited" and not mean it.

Would they?;)

In my opinion stopping companies using the word "unlimited" when it's simply not unlimited should have a much higher priority than stopping the words "up to".

"Unlimited broadband" when it's not unlimited is straight out lying.
"Up to 20 meg broadband" when only one person in the whole country can get 20 meg broadband is at worst dishonest, but it's not lying.

ukcarper

nzseries1 wrote: »

In my opinion stopping companies using the word "unlimited" when it's simply not unlimited should have a much higher priority than stopping the words "up to".

"Unlimited broadband" when it's not unlimited is straight out lying.
"Up to 20 meg broadband" when only one person in the whole country can get 20 meg broadband is at worst dishonest, but it's not lying.

I think the up to is old hat and people should understand by now that it is up to and you are unlikely to get the full speed. But I agree if they say unlimited it should be unlimited.

nzseries1

ukcarper wrote: »

I think the up to is old hat and people should understand by now that it is up to and you are unlikely to get the full speed. But I agree if they say unlimited it should be unlimited.

I should be careful what I wish for, soon companies will start having sales where everthing is "up to 100% off!" which of course is technically true for any reduction.

Reminds me of The Simpsons where Lisa was taking a tour of a box factory, and the tour guide says: "Each box is made using a certain percentage of recycled material!"
Lisa: "And what percentage is that?"
Tour guide: "Zero. What? Zero is a percent."