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Ofcom takes ISPs to task over misleading speeds
28 Jul 2009 | 10.57 Europe/London
We knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and it has. Using SamKnows' methodology, Ofcom has spent the past six months testing ISP speeds. And today the media and telecoms watchdog made the results public.
Over 1,600 users were tested and 60 million readings taken in the study, which confirmed what many people had thought: yes, internet speeds slow down by more than half between 8pm and 10pm; and no, the up-to speeds mean very little. Anna Bradley, chair of the Communications Consumer Panel, has been lobbying for the current up-to speed claims to be changed to an average speed claim. "The Ofcom work is incredibly helpful because it exposes just how little the up- to speeds mean and exposes how variable the service level is from one provider to another," she said. "The fact that they are still advertised with 'up-to' speeds is deeply problematic."
Top of the tree was Virgin, whose average speed of 8.1 to 8.7 Mbit/s allowed a high-quality DVD to be downloaded in 1 hr, 8 mins. Bringing up the rear was, unsurprisingly, Tiscali, taking two-and-three-quarter hours to do the same task, at speeds of between 3.2 and 3.7 Mbit/s. You can find all the results here on the Ofcom site.
Alex Salter, chairman of SamKnows, told the site that he was not trying to wage war against the ISPs, but rather that Ofcom had chosen the SamKnows methodology to measure broadband speeds. "This is for the benefit of the consumer as well as the regulator. We're delighted with the coverage, but we remain focused on the initial aim, which is to fill the information gap."
Less straightforward were the ISPs' statements. "It's what customers get, not what their ISP claims, that counts," said Virgin. BT, who didn't fare so well in the tests, claimed that the testing was unreliable because they were in the middle of migrating to new technology, and that too few people were used in the report. Meanwhile, TalkTalk, who bought up Tiscali earlier this year, informed The Guardian that they were moving Tiscali customers to their own networks.
The Guardian
Over 1,600 users were tested and 60 million readings taken in the study, which confirmed what many people had thought: yes, internet speeds slow down by more than half between 8pm and 10pm; and no, the up-to speeds mean very little. Anna Bradley, chair of the Communications Consumer Panel, has been lobbying for the current up-to speed claims to be changed to an average speed claim. "The Ofcom work is incredibly helpful because it exposes just how little the up- to speeds mean and exposes how variable the service level is from one provider to another," she said. "The fact that they are still advertised with 'up-to' speeds is deeply problematic."
Top of the tree was Virgin, whose average speed of 8.1 to 8.7 Mbit/s allowed a high-quality DVD to be downloaded in 1 hr, 8 mins. Bringing up the rear was, unsurprisingly, Tiscali, taking two-and-three-quarter hours to do the same task, at speeds of between 3.2 and 3.7 Mbit/s. You can find all the results here on the Ofcom site.
Alex Salter, chairman of SamKnows, told the site that he was not trying to wage war against the ISPs, but rather that Ofcom had chosen the SamKnows methodology to measure broadband speeds. "This is for the benefit of the consumer as well as the regulator. We're delighted with the coverage, but we remain focused on the initial aim, which is to fill the information gap."
Less straightforward were the ISPs' statements. "It's what customers get, not what their ISP claims, that counts," said Virgin. BT, who didn't fare so well in the tests, claimed that the testing was unreliable because they were in the middle of migrating to new technology, and that too few people were used in the report. Meanwhile, TalkTalk, who bought up Tiscali earlier this year, informed The Guardian that they were moving Tiscali customers to their own networks.
The Guardian
From the map on the ofcom report, p18 it shows that the majority of the tests were done in urban areas, which slants the data! If a countrywide test was done it would probably even out at an average of far less - even possibly 1meg. But well done to Samknows for setting the ball rolling. As awareness of the issue increases so will the case for NGA and fibre to the home.
28 Jul 2009 | 12.24 Europe/London
Im delighted that this news has finally come to the fore. It has been long overdue. I agree with Chrisdoyle it could have been tested over a wider area. Just as another point is it possible for samknows to look into something else regarding broadband in particular SKY broadband? Sky started their broadband 3 years ago and were advising customers that their exchanges would be updated within 12 months of them getting their broadband, this was misleading customers with false information. Sky will not tell me and neither will BT as they are the company who are supposed to be updating the exchanges they keep on blaming each other. But sky keep on taking peoples money £17.00 a month for the last 3 years thats a lot of money from a lot of customers.
28 Jul 2009 | 21.49 Europe/London
Sky have a limited footprint
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/llu-operator/easynet
with no current plans to increase it that we are aware of. There are better deals if you aren't on one of their LLU exchanges, so ask for your MAC code and see if they offer a discount.
29 Jul 2009 | 12.31 Europe/London
Some people in this part of Kent would be delighted to get as much as 1 meg download speed. I am getting between 1.4 and 1.8Mbp on a good day.
In fact much of the village and parts of neighbouring villages were either without connection, or it was so slow that just the odd email was downloading every 5 minutes. The problem was in the exchange, but BT has only just agreed that there was a fault.
All the providers were telling complainants to purchase new routers, which of course was no help at all.
29 Jul 2009 | 15.21 Europe/London