Guide To Broadband

Such has been the furore over the matter that the Consumer Panel, the independent voice for the consumer interest in communications markets, has asked Ofcom, the industry regulator to take the lead in producing a mandatory code of practice for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to address consumer concerns about advertised broadband connection speeds.

Following discussions with the UK’s six leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) about why consumers often do not get the advertised broadband speeds that they think they are buying, Colette Bowe, Chairman of the Ofcom Consumer Panel, has written to Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards asking the regulator to take a lead on the issue:

“We would like to see Ofcom leading discussions with industry to produce an enforceable code of practice that would be mandatory for ISPs. This code would establish agreed processes to give the customer the best information during and after the sales process, and to give them flexibility to move freely to different packages that reflect the actual speeds with which their ISPs are able to provide them.”

Colette Bowe has also asked Ofcom to make information publicly available to consumers on its website. “This information would help consumers understand the technical issues affecting their broadband speeds, and over which they have control. It would also provide quality of service information to assist in their decision over which ISP to opt for.”

The Consumer Panel believe any code of practice should include a commitment from ISPs to:

- Inform consumers, during the sales process, about the theoretical maximum line speed they could   expect

- Provide clear information upfront about the factors that can affect line speed

- Contact customers two weeks after installation to provide them with the actual line speed supported    by their line

If the actual line speed is significantly lower than the package they bought, consumers should have a penalty-free choice to move to a different package or, in certain circumstances, opt-out from their contract.

The Consumer Panel spoke with the ISPs last year because of widespread customer discontent about broadband speeds. The ‘up to’ speeds advertised in broadband packages are very often significantly different from the actual, lower speeds experienced by many subscribers.

The Consumer Panel Chairman also wants the advertising of broadband speeds to be tightened up. “I will be requesting that the Advertising Standards Authority, working with industry, considers how the range of factors affecting broadband speeds can be given much greater prominence in advertising material. We believe that clearer information in advertising of broadband speeds and the associated packages would greatly increase customer satisfaction.

The industry has so far reacted cautiously to the call for a code of practice with Unicom, the Manchesterbased specialist business-to-business telecoms provider, warning that such action would be a gross over-reaction.

“As a broadband-using country we seem to have become obsessed with the speed of the service we receive, but the fact is that no single operator can truly guarantee the speed of its broadband service,” said Chris Earle, Operations Director of Unicom.

“People complain that the broadband service in the UK is massively slow and inefficient compared to developing nations such as Korea - and they just can’t understand why,” said Chris Earle.

Exchange Distance

“The speed you receive is based largely on how far you are from the exchange, and the quality of your phone line, neither of which can be influenced by an ISP without physically installing a new connection at huge expense. As a result, most ADSL suppliers will be able to deliver the same speed to you as they all utilise the same copper wires that your phone line uses.

“However, what you download, where you download it from, and how many people are also online at the same time all play a role in how fast your connection is,” explains Earle.

“The quality of your ISP’s network is more important than the headline speed. Telling customers what their speed is after a connection has commenced does not guarantee that speed in any way, which is as misleading as the ‘up to 8Mb’ issue,” said Chris Earle.

“BT’s copper wire network is the fundamental problem. The UK leads technological thinking, but we can’t apply 21st century technology to an early 20th century infrastructure,” he added.

“The UK will only have a competitive network when the copper wire network is replaced, but without the government’s and/or Ofcom’s intervention, that may never happen. Perhaps that is where Ofcom’s attention should be focussed.”

Whilst all this back and forth is taking place on the issue of claimed broadband speeds one organisation has actually published a list of their 2007 Broadband Speed Test Award Winners.

Amid concerns that suppliers are not delivering the speeds they advertise for broadband and a call for greater clarity being enforced by regulators

BroadbandChoices.co.uk has announced the ISP heavy hitters that delivered the most consistent broadband speeds in 2007. Broadbandchoices.co.uk agrees that download speed has been an area of much debate in the broadband market throughout 2007, with many ISPs simply not delivering the promised download performance.

A report by consumer group, Which? earlier this year found a ‘huge’ gap between publicised broadband speeds and what most users actually received, with the average speed ‘enjoyed’ by customers on 8Mb packages being as low as 2.7Mb.

Michael Phillips, product director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk, said: “Connections get degraded the further away they are from the BT exchange. Factors like this and poor quality wiring significantly degrade broadband connections and reduce the available speed. It’s simply not possible for every customer to get the advertised speed. Our speed tests show that, on average, customers only receive 35 per cent of the promised speed.”

BroadbandChoices.co.uk has been continuously monitoring the average speed that ISPs are delivering to their customers since August 2007. Over that period they have collated over 375,000 individual test results across over 8,000 different internet users.

Winners have been awarded a gold, silver or bronze rating in three bandwidth categories:

• Welter Weight – all providers offering up to 2Mb services;

• Cruiser Weight – all providers offering up to 8Mb services (excluding welter weights);

• Heavy Weight – any providers offering up to 16Mb, 20Mb or 24Mb services.

The results concluded that Sky was the broadband supplier that gave the most consistent speeds to its customers during 2007 across all three weight categories. Sky received a gold medal in the cruiser weight category, a silver in the welter weight and a bronze in the heavy weight category.

Close behind Sky, Virgin Media received two gold medals in the welter weight and the heavy weight categories.

TalkTalk did not appear anywhere near the top of the results, having only delivered an average speed of 2.2Mb for its 8Mb package in the cruiser weight division; while the wooden spoon was awarded to Supanet in the Cruiser weight division.

Sadly…