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ISPs asked to clarify broadband speeds

The Ofcom consumer panel has written to the top ISPs asking them to consider measures to provide more information to consumers.

Over the last few months, concerns have been raised over actual speeds versus advertised speeds.  The debate is not a new one however.  In the past, ISP’s have been cautioned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over ISP advertising that didn’t make it clear that speeds advertised were only theoretical maximums.   That led to the use of the phrase “up to” in ISP advertising.

Colette Bowe, who chairs the Ofcom Consumer Panel, wrote to the top ISPs, including BT, Sky, Tiscali, Orange and TalkTalk.  The letter asks ISPs to further clarify the type of speeds available for a consumer.  Other proposals include extending the cooling off period for consumers who change their mind to due speed issues.

In a statement, Ms. Bowe said, “We believe that broadband customers are not at the moment getting enough information.”

While some ISPs may not make maximum potential speeds clear during sign-up, some do provide an indication of the kind of the transfer speeds that are likely to be available.  02, who are due to enter the broadband market, also said that it plans to inform customers of potential speeds to ensure they are on the right package.

The UK’s ADSL broadband network, which uses BT copper lines from the exchange to UK homes and many business premises, is more susceptible to slower speeds the further away a premises is from the exchange.  This has been a major source of the issue in inherent slower broadband speeds.  There have been calls for replacing this with fibre, which can more or less eliminate the distance related issue.  However, Virgin Media’s network operates mostly through fibre, and even their customers do not always get the maximum speed available.

So consumers must bear mind that there are still other factors that will affect broadband speeds. For example, most consumer and small business broadband services operate on a contended service.  That means many users share the same bit of pipe that connects to the Internet and at busy times a higher contention could influence broadband speeds.

However, a figure that is a realistic maximum speed available, dependant on the distance to an exchange would be useful from those ISPs that do not provide it already.   But even a realistic maximum may not be necessarily reached at peak times, due to other variables that slow down broadband speeds.

If ISPs were made to change their marketing literature, it would be interesting to see how they would advertise speed.  Or if they are even able to.